AXA Investment Managers to acquire Framlington Group Limited

The offer has been accepted by HSBC Holdings plc and Comerica Incorporated (subject to certain conditions and FSA approval). This transaction will give AXA Investment Managers an even stronger platform for further growth, particularly in the UK.

Framlington is an investment management manager with an emphasis on specialist, high-performance and high-value-added equity investments, and has a significant market position within the UK retail market segment, capturing 10.7% of overall UK retail net sales during 2004. Assets under management, as at the end of March 2005, were £4.5 billion. This transaction will provide key strategic benefits for AXA Investment Managers including:
- A team of experienced and well-respected fund managers managing assets in both the UK and global markets
- A significant boost to AXA IM's UK equity capability through a range of products covering both UK-based equity strategies and sector specific investments
- A well-recognised brand with a strong UK franchise in the intermediary marketplace.

Framlington is a great strategic fit for the AXA Investment Managers group. In terms of its investment excellence strategy, their strong equity capability will provide a significant enhancement to the societie's multi-specialist model under the new brand name of AXA Framlington (in the same way as AXA Private Equity, AXA REIM, AXA Rosenberg and AXA Multimanager), retaining its existing highly-successful investment process.