UK's competition watchdog to look at AXA-Phoenix deal

July 4 (Reuters) - Britain's competition watchdog said on Monday it was considering whether French insurer AXA (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) 's sale of its UK investment and pensions business to Phoenix Group (Shanghai: 600679.SS - news) could lead to a cut in competition in UK markets.

AXA said in May that it would sell the business to Phoenix, Britain's largest owner of life assurance funds closed to new customers, completing a well-flagged exit from a mature life assurance market to focus on faster-growing emerging economies.

Phoenix said it would pay 375 million pounds ($497 million)in cash to close the deal, adding that it will add 12.3 billion pounds of assets under management and more than 910,000 policies.

The Competition and Markets Authority invited interested parties to comment on the deal by July 18.

Both Phoenix and AXA UK could not immediately be reached for comment when contacted by Reuters. ($1 = 0.7538 pounds) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Carolyn Cohn in London; editing by Simon Jessop)