AMP, parent offer $11.8b for Axa arm

SYDNEY: AMP Ltd, Australia's second-largest asset manager, and French insurer Axa SA raised their bid for Axa Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd to A$12.9 billion ($11.8 billion) and gave the wealth manager a week to accept.

Axa Asia Pacific's board will consider the proposal, the Melbourne-based company said in a statement. AMP and France's biggest insurer sweetened the cash portion of the offer, raising the bid to A$6.22 a share, 53 percent higher than the closing price before the original proposal a month ago.

"This is a pretty fair bid," said Arjan van Veen, an analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG in Sydney.