Insurer AXA says looking at more Asia acquisitions

SYDNEY (Reuters) - French insurer AXA's Asia unit, AXA Asia Pacific, is looking at more regional acquisitions after its deal to buy an Australian financial planning business last week, the unit's chief said on Sunday.

Chief Executive Andrew Penn said the Australia-listed firm still had around A$1 billion ($963 million) in capital that was surplus to regulatory requirements, even after agreeing last Wednesday to buy the financial planning business of Challenger Financial Group Ltd for A$100 million.

Under the deal, AXA Asia Pacific swapped its closed annuity business to Challenger in exchange for the financial planning business and net payment to AXA Asia Pacific of A$50 million.

Asked if he was still hunting for acquisitions, Penn said his firm was considering potential targets in Australia and across Asia, where it already operates in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, India and Malaysia.

"We have files open right the way across all the markets in which we operate," he told ABC TV in an interview.

"Asia is very much the growth opportunity for us, but of course we should not forget that the Australian market itself has been growing very, very strongly...so we are interested in acquisitions both in Australia, as we have just done, and also right the way across the Asian region."

($1=1.039 Australian Dollar)

(Reporting by Mark Bendeich, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)