Standard Life is set to buy AXA Elevate, according to a release published online.
In the announcement, published earlier today on stock market listing site 4-traders, Standard Life said it would buy the entire share capital of AXA Portfolio Services, the company which contains AXA Elevate.
The deal will add £9.8 billion of assets under administration to Standard Life’s platform. Following the deal the platform will have £36.4 billion of assets under administration.
David Tiller (pictured), head of adviser and wealth management propositions at Standard Life said the deal showed Standard Life’s long term commitment to the advised platform market.
‘This acquisition is a clear sign of our continued commitment to lead the UK adviser platform market. It demonstrates to advisers that, as the market consolidates, supporting their businesses and meeting the evolving needs of their clients is central to the long-term strategy of Standard Life,’ he said.
New Model Adviser® reported that Standard Life was close to agreeing to buy the platform for £250 million last month.
Sources familiar with the situation said Standard Life had beaten rival life company Zurich to secure the deal.
Its successful bid for Elevate followed a sales process revealed by New Model Adviser® in September last year. AXA originally appointed Barclays to sell Elevate and Sun Life as a package alongside offshore bond provider AXA Isle of Man.
However, no bidder emerged for the combined businesses. As a result AXA hired Fenchurch Advisory Services to look at options to sell the businesses.
Last month Bloomberg reported that Standard Life had put a bid in for Elevate.
AXA Isle of Man was bought by Dublin-domiciled the Life Company Consolidation Group at the end of last week for an undisclosed fee.
Source: New Model Adviser