Standard & Poor’s has lowered its ratings on Axa’s Asia Pacific Holdings’ (Axa APH) Australian and New Zealand business units from AA to A+ following majority shareholder Axa SA’s implicit indication that it doesn’t consider the units as strategic assets.

The move follows the move on November 6 by AMP and Axa SA to acquire local operation Axa APH for $11 million. Axa SA, which owns 53.9% of Axa APH, has agreed with AMP to acquire Axa APH’s prized Asian assets, which it tried to buy in 2004. AMP would get the Australian and NZ businesses.

Last Monday Axa APH’s independent directors rejected the two companies’ overtures, which seek the directors’ support but have not taken the form of an official takeover offer. The offer stands at $5.34 a share, with analysts saying an increased offer to $6 a share – valuing Axa APH at $12.4 billion – would probably be sufficient to force the independent directors to take it to shareholders.

Standard & Poor’s analyst Michael Vine says the downgrade on Wednesday followed Axa SA’s decision to hand over the non-Asia assets to AMP – an indication that it no longer considers the Australian and NZ markets to be a “strategically core part” of its offering.

“Therefore, we now base our opinion on the creditworthiness of these subsidiaries mainly on their stand-alone credit quality.”