AXA dumps tobacco investments

MANILA, Philippines - AXA Group will sell 224 million euros ($250 million) worth of stocks in tobacco companies. The French insurer, the world’s largest by non-banking assets, will also stop buying bonds issued by tobacco companies and gradually wind down its existing bond holdings worth 1.6 billion euros. According to AXA, smoking poses the biggest threat to public health. The company said tobacco consumption is the major cause of long term non-infectious diseases including cancer, heart disease and chronic respiratory illnesses, which are together responsible for 68 percent of all deaths worldwide. Tobacco kills around six million people each year -- more than five million smokers and more than 600,000 non-smokers who are exposed to smoke. AXA warned that the situation is getting worse, with tobacco expected to kill eight million people a year by 2030, mostly in developing countries. It added that unless action is taken to reverse the trend, tobacco would kill one billion people worldwide during the 21st century. “As a major investor and a leading health insurer, the AXA Group wants to be part of the solution, and our hope is that others in our industry will do the same,” Thomas Buberl, Axa’s deputy chief executive officer, told CNN Money.