French insurer AXA confirmed that it was bearing in mind a £2.75m sale of its British life and pensions business to Friends Provident owner Resolution, as a consequence, shares in Clive Cowdery's acquisition vehicle Resolution have been suspended.

The deal is considered a reverse takeover, so the Resolution was suspended at 60.3p. Cowdery had an aim of buying at least three insurers or asset managers, while he founded Resolution.

This deal would mark the second after its purchase of Friends Provident. Resolution, Chief Executive, John Tiner shared that strong momentum would be built by this acquisition in Resolution's life assurance consolidation project. This acquirement would also provide a variety of options for additional activity.

If AXA's UK businesses are merged with Friends, there are fears of job losses. Resolution stated that it anticipated "significant cost synergies" from rationalization of sales and marketing, operations as well as support costs.

Shore Capital Analyst, Eamonn Flanagan said, “The intention by Resolution is to consolidate the AXA UK life operations with Friends Provident, giving the combined group a pretty significant position in the UK risk and group pensions market”.