BAHRAIN, 6 February 2005 — AXA Insurance BSC and Norwich Union-Middle East “tied the knot” to become AXA Gulf, creating the largest international insurer in the region, at a signing ceremony here on Thursday.
“We’re looking forward to an enduring partnership and are fully confident for the future with development of business opportunities in the GCC and in particular Saudi Arabia,” Abdullah Kanoo, chairman of the Yusuf bin Ahmed Kanoo Group of companies, said.
“We’re delighted at the outcome of our discussions, which are to be satisfaction of all shareholders,” Andrea Rossi, AXA’s COO for the Middle East & Mediterranean region, said. “We now have a solid platform to grow our business in the region and progress our strategies to make AXA Gulf the foremost international insurer, offering the most comprehensive range of products and services to our customers.”
Didier Boussemart, who has been working in the region for the past six years, will manage the new structure, following local authority approvals. Also in place will be three general managers — Iain Reid for the Gulf operations, Paul Adamson for Saudi Arabia and Xavier Veyry for the newly created service platform.
Each office of the merging entries will remain in place during a planned integration period of up to six months. “Our teams of professionals will work had to integrate the businesses and at the same time maintain the high standard of service to our customers,” Boussemart said. “We’re confident of success in our endeavors and will emerge a stronger, fitter organization with grand plans for the future,” Reid said.
The new entity will operate under the AXA brand name and be in joint venture with the Kanoo Group, a leading private business conglomerate in the GCC. Aviva plc, which has been the Kanoo Group insurance partner for over 50 years, has sold its shareholding in Norwich Union Middle East.
The new entity will benefit from the experience of the AXA group, which is a worldwide leader in financial protection. In 2004, AXA achieved 72.2 billion euro ($94.4 billion) in revenues and 827 billion euro in assets under management.
Fortune Magazine ranked AXA as the 13th largest corporation in the world employing 117,000 people in more than 60 countries and providing protection to more than 50 million customers worldwide.
Regulators across the region have already been briefed and have welcomed this development in Saudi Arabia, the regulators will require the joining of additional shareholders to create a new cooperative insurance company.
