Principal Financial To Buy AXA's Hong Kong Pension Business For $335 Mln

(RTTNews) - The Principal Financial Group, Inc. (PFG) Friday said it would acquire Axa SA's (AXAHY.PK) Mandatory Provident Fund or MPF and Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance or ORSO pension business in Hong Kong for about $335 million.

Principal and AXA will also enter into an exclusive 15-year distribution agreement to provide pension products through AXA's extensive agency network in Hong Kong.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015. Upon approval, Principal will more than double the assets under management of its Hong Kong pension business to more than $6 billion and will be ranked as the fifth largest MPF provider in that market.

The firm expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings per share and ROE in the first full year.