National Australia Bank's (NAB) bid for Axa Asia Pacific (Axa AP) is still alive after the parties involved in the proposed sale extended their agreement until 15 July.
The extension means none of the parties, including French parent Axa SA, is allowed to terminate the agreement for failure to obtain competition clearance in Australia until that day.
The extension of the agreement comes as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is yet to release its public competition assessment outlining the details of its April decision to block the transaction.
"NAB is currently in discussions with the ACCC to determine whether the ACCC's concerns can be addressed," Axa AP said in a release to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday.
Speculation has suggested NAB is looking for a buyer for Axa AP's North platform to overcome the regulator's objections, with IOOF and Tower Australia named as potential buyers.
But a Tower spokesperson said if the company was talking about the acquisition of the North platform it would have had to declare this in its equity raising prospectus released last Thursday.
As this has not occurred it would be safe to assume Tower was not planning any major acquisition, the spokesperson said.
IOOF did not want to comment on the speculation, but sources within the company said it was unlikely the company was planning an acquisition of the platform.
Analysts have said a potential buyer of the North platform would not have to be limited to the financial services industry and could be a large IT firm.
