...+ On March 5, 2018, AXA insurance group announced plans to acquire insurer XL Group Ltd. for $15.3 billion. + AXA intends to use the proceeds from the IPO of a 20%-35% stake of its U.S. life and asset management (AM) operations in addition to cash and debt issuance to fund the acquisition. AXA also intends to fully exit its U.S. life and AM operations over the coming years. + We are placing our long-term ratings on AXA and its subsidiaries that we view as core or highly strategic on CreditWatch with negative implications, as we believe the transaction, if completed, could materially weaken AXA's capital adequacy as per our definition, if the group fails to successfully deconsolidate its U.S. life and AM operations in the coming years. + We expect to resolve or extend the CreditWatch over the next three months, once we have greater clarity on the financial impact of the acquisition on AXA as well as the progress of the IPO....
