Employees Investing in Shareplan 2005 will Have Direct Voting Rights at AXA's
General Shareholder Meetings
PARIS, Dec. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Following the Shareplan 2005,
AXA's employees worldwide hold 4.76% of AXA's outstanding share capital or
5.62% after taking into account the 337.5 million AXA's shares which will be
cancelled on January 9, 2006 following the merger of AXA and Finaxa, as
approved by their respective shareholders' meetings on December 16, 2005.
On September 23, AXA announced the launch of its 2005 Shareplan offering,
a capital increase reserved for employees worldwide, with a subscription
period in November 2005. In most countries, two investment options were
proposed: a traditional plan and a leveraged plan.
Approximately 23,000 employees in 28 countries, representing approximately
25% of eligible employees, subscribed to Shareplan 2005. The number of
subscribers increased by almost 34% compared to 2004, further demonstrating
employees' confidence in the development of the Group.
Employees investing in Shareplan 2005 will have direct voting rights at
AXA's general shareholder meetings(1) and will thereby be able to express
directly their opinion on the decisions driving the strategy of the AXA Group.
Voting rights for employee investments in previous Shareplan offerings will
continue to be indirect, exercised by an elected member of the supervisory
board of the fund. At the end of Shareplan 2005, AXA's employees hold around
6.8% of voting rights.
The aggregate proceeds from the offering stands at Euro 304.3 million, for
a total of 16.3 million newly issued shares, subscribed at a price of Euro
18.07 for the traditional plan and Euro 18.63 for the leveraged plan(2). The
new shares have been created with full rights from January 1, 2005. This
offering raises the total number of AXA shares outstanding to 2,207 million as
of December 23, 2005 before taking into account the 337.5 million AXA shares
which will be cancelled on January 9, 2006.
About AXA
AXA Group is a worldwide leader in financial protection. AXA's operations
are diverse geographically, with major operations in Western Europe, North
America and the Asia/Pacific area. AXA had Euro 935 billion in assets under
management as of June 30, 2005. For full year 2004, IFRS revenues amounted to
Euro 67 billion and IFRS underlying earnings amounted to Euro 2,640 million.
AXA reported total IFRS revenues of Euro 37 billion and IFRS underlying
earnings of Euro 1,761 million for the first half of 2005. The AXA ordinary
share is listed and trades under the symbol AXA on the Paris Stock Exchange.
The AXA American Depository Share is also listed on the NYSE under the ticker
symbol AXA.
This press release, the presentation and the restatement report are
available at: http://www.axa.com
IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION AND CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS CONCERNING
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements
including, but not limited to, statements that are predications of or indicate
future events, trends, plans or objectives. Undue reliance should not be
placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known
and unknown risks and uncertainties and can be affected by other factors that
could cause actual results and AXA's plans and objectives to differ materially
from those expressed or implied in the forward looking statements (or from
past results). These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the
risk of future catastrophic events including possible future terrorist related
incidents, economic and market developments, regulatory actions and
developments, litigations and other proceedings. Please refer to AXA's Annual
Report on Form 20-F and AXA's Document de Reference for the year ended
December 31, 2004, for a description of certain important factors, risks and
uncertainties that may affect AXA's business. AXA undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to
reflect new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise.
1 Except for employees in Japan who still vote indirectly for tax
reasons (i.e. through the supervisory board of the fund)
2 Euro 22.58 for the leveraged plan in Germany
AXA Investor Relations:
Matthieu Andre: +33.1.40.75.46.85
Caroline Portel: +33.1.40.75.49.84
Marie-Flore Bachelier : +33.1.40.75.49.45
Sophie Bourlanges: +33.1.40.75.56.07
Kevin Molloy: +1.212.314.28.93
Emmanuel Touzeau +33.1.40.75.49.05
AXA Media Relations:
Christophe Dufraux: +33.1.40.75.46.74
Clara Rodrigo: +33.1.40.75.47.22
Rebecca Le Rouzic: +33.1.40.75.97.35
Mary Taylor: +1.212.314.58.45
SOURCE AXA Group
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Related links:
http://www.axa.com
CONTACT:
AXA Investor Relations: Matthieu Andre,
+33-1-40-75-46-85, Caroline Portel, +33-1-40-75-49-84,
Marie-Flore Bachelier, +33-1-40-75-49-45, Sophie Bourlanges,
+33-1-40-75-56-07, Kevin Molloy, +1-212-314-2893, Emmanuel
Touzeau, +33-1-40-75-49-05; AXA Media Relations: Christophe
Dufraux, +33-1-40-75-46-74, Clara Rodrigo, +33-1-40-75-47-22,
Rebecca Le Rouzic, +33-1-40-75-97-35, Mary Taylor,
+1-212-314-5845, all for AXA Group
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