DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) today announced the acquisition of AXA’s Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) and Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO) pension business in Hong Kong is complete.
On Nov. 7, 2014, The Principal® announced a definitive agreement to acquire AXA’s MPF and ORSO business in Hong Kong. The deal includes an exclusive 15-year distribution agreement to provide pension products through AXA’s extensive agency network in Hong Kong.
With this acquisition, The Principal becomes the fifth largest MPF provider in the market, increasing assets under management of its Hong Kong pension business to more than US $6 billion. The transaction is expected to be accretive to EPS and ROE in the first full year.
“This acquisition further strengthens our position in one of the most attractive emerging retirement and long-term savings markets in the world,” said Dan Houston, president and CEO of The Principal. “Between added scale and the exclusive distribution agreement, we are well positioned to accelerate growth of our mandatory and voluntary pension business in Hong Kong.”
According to Luis Valdes, president and CEO of Principal International, “Making strategic acquisitions and establishing key relationships with marquee partners has been a successful strategy for us. Being able to extend our global pension, long-term savings, and asset management expertise to more clients in Hong Kong is another step toward strengthening our position in North Asia.”
About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial
Group® (The Principal®)1 is a global
investment management leader offering retirement services, insurance
solutions and asset management. The Principal offers businesses,
individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products
and services, including retirement, asset management and insurance
through its diverse family of financial services companies. Founded in
1879 and a member of the FORTUNE 500®, the Principal
Financial Group has $539.9 billion in assets under management2
and serves some 20.1 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia,
Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal
Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.
About The AXA Group
The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in
insurance and asset management, with 161,000 employees serving 103
million clients in 59 countries. In 2014, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro
92.0 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 5.1 billion. AXA had
Euro 1,277 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2014.
The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISN FR 0000120628 – Bloomberg: CS FP – Reuters: AXAF.PA). AXA’s American Depository Share is also quoted on the OTC QX platform under the ticker symbol AXAHY.
The AXA Group is included in the main international SRI indexes, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD.
It is a founding member of the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance and a signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment.
1 “The Principal Financial Group” and “The Principal” are
registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member
of the Principal Financial Group.
2 As of June 30, 2015.