This is the second time that AXA has sought to buy out the unit's minority shareholders.
That is why they say the second option appears far more likely: to buy out the unit's public shareholders on the cheap, retire the separate stock and absorb the operation.
He completed an MBA at Cranfield School of Management in 1984, and the same year joined Standard Chartered, where he became a founding member of the bank's management buy-out unit, working with Dick Hanson.
Doers and doings in business, entertainment and technology: Fiat Chairman Umberto Agnelli Umberto Agnelli said his firm could seek compensation if General Motors does not accept an "put" option allowing the former to force GM to buy out its automaker unit.
Lafarge, the world's biggest cement maker, increased an offer to buy out its North American unit by 9.3percenttoto $3.3 billion as it seeks a bigger slice of the fast-growing U.S. building-materials market.
In 1998 Appleton gambled $800 million of the company's stock, a 10% stake at the time, to buy out Texas Instruments' moneylosing memory unit.
But people close to the company said there was at least a 50percentt chance that the company will absorb the money-losing unit, and buy out holders of the depressed stock and retire the shares.
In 1998, he teamed up with Liberty, an AT&T unit, to buy out other partners in the holding company for $600 million.
Chase Sapphire, a credit card for the high-end market, has bought out The New York Times's iPad advertising units for 60 days after the introduction.
In April Unilever offered $5 billion to buy out minority shareholders in its Indian unit.
GE's NBC TV unit has just retreated online, moving to buy out its publicly traded NBCi portal and close it down.
