French insurer Axa SA is in talks with British entrepreneur Clive Cowdery to hammer out a £2.8 billion ($4.8 billion) deal that would see Axa exit the UK life insurance sector.

Axa has said it wants to pump investment dollars into rapidly growing southeast Asian life insurance markets by selling assets in mature markets like the UK.

While the UK divestment attracted attention last week, Axa continues to be frustrated in its efforts to sell its 53% share of Axa Asia Pacific Holdings (Axa APH) to the National Australia Bank (NAB).

Last week investment manager IOOF was named by media as a potential buyer of Axa APH’s much-admired North investment platform, which the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission has pinpointed as a sticking point in any go-ahead for its $14 billion takeover.

Mr Cowdery, who owns Resolution, has plans to merge Axa SA’s British business with Friends Provident before launching the combined entity on the London Stock Exchange in two years.

Resolution Life was a London-based insurance company before the Pearl Group acquired it in May 2008. It was subsequently relaunched by Mr Cowdery as an investment acquisition vehicle in December 2008. It acquired Friends Provident, a business specialising in UK life insurance and pensions, in August 2009.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand Commerce Commission has given its clearance to AMP’s bid for Axa APH.

AMP – which is still locked out of direct negotiations by an exclusivity agreement between Axa SA and NAB – told the Australian Securities Exchange this morning that its merger proposal would see the creation of “a fifth pillar in the critically important financial services sector”.