PARIS, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- On August 18, 2008 AXA announced the launch of its 2008 SharePlan offering, a capital increase reserved to its employees worldwide. Approximately 36,000 employees in 37 countries, representing 30% of eligible employees, subscribed to SharePlan 2008. The large number of employees who chose to subscribe represents a clear vote of confidence in AXA, its business model and its project Ambition 2012 to become the preferred company in its industry. The aggregate proceeds from the offering amount to approximately Euro 460 million, for a total of more than 24 million newly issued shares, subscribed at a price of Euro 17.18 for the classic plan and Euro 18.43 for the leveraged plan(1). The new shares have been created with full rights from January 1, 2008. This offering increases the total number of outstanding AXA shares to 2,089 million as of November 28, 2008. AXA's employees investing in SharePlan 2008 will have direct voting rights at AXA's general shareholders' meetings and will thereby be able to directly express their opinion on the decisions driving the strategy of the AXA Group. Following SharePlan 2008, AXA's employees hold around 5.84% of the share capital and 6.42% of the voting rights. This press release is available on the AXA Group web site: http://www.axa.com/ About AXA AXA Group is a worldwide leader in Financial Protection. AXA's operations are diverse geographically, with major operations in Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. For full year 2007, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 93.6 billion and IFRS adjusted earnings to Euro 6.1 billion. AXA had Euro 1,281 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2007. The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISIN FR0000120628 - Bloomberg: CS FP - Reuters: AXAF.PA). The American Depository Share is also listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AXA. IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION AND CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements contained herein are forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans or objectives. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Please refer to AXA's Annual Report on Form 20-F and AXA's Document de Reference for the year ended December 31, 2007, for a description of certain important factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect AXA's business. In particular, please refer to the section "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in AXA's Annual Report on Form 20-F. AXA undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. This press release is not an offer for sale within the United States of any security of AXA or any of its affiliates. Securities of AXA or any of its affiliates may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under U.S. securities laws or unless exempt from registration under such laws. (1) Euro 21.47 for the leveraged plan in Germany. DATASOURCE: AXA Group CONTACT: Investor Relations: Etienne Bouas-Laurent, +33.1.40.75.46.85, Paul-Antoine Cristofari, +33.1.40.75.73.60, Emmanuel Touzeau, +33.1.40.75.49.05, George Guerrero, +1.212.314.2868, or Media Relations: Christophe Dufraux, +33.1.40.75.46.74, Laurent Secheret, +33.1.40.75.48.17, Armelle Vercken, +33.1.40.75.46.42, Chris Winans, +1-212-314-5519 Web Site: http://www.axa.com/

Copyright