Axa successful in UK "orphans funds" case

LONDON - The UK High Court yesterday rejected a legal challenge from BritishAxa policyholders who sought to force the French-owned insurer to distributearound �1.7bn surplus funds from its UK life fund back to policyholders. Axahad offered to give back more than �225m of the so-called "orphan assets" tothem and Judge Edward Evans-Lombe - in his High Court judgement deliveredyesterday - recommended policyholders accept this. Although it is not yetclear whether there will be an appeal against the decision, the ConsumerAssociation, which had backed the policyholders case in court is known to beunhappy with the decision. And it is also supporting a separate bid againstPrudential over the ownership of its orphan estate - estimated at around�7bn.