FACE-TO-FACE talks will begin between National Australia Bank and AXA SA of France this weekend in an effort to seal a $14.2 billion friendly takeover of AXA Asia-Pacific and finally see off AMP's ambitions to acquire the Australian fund manager.
NAB, which trumped AMP's deal with the French with an agreed bid for AXA AP in the middle of December, is understood to have sent a high-powered negotiating team to Paris to begin formal work as soon as AMP's exclusivity deal expires today.