Claude Bebear, chairman of Axa Midi Assurances,...

Claude Bebear, chairman of Axa Midi Assurances, the Paris-based insurance company seeking to buy Farmers Group of Los Angeles, was reported to be recovering from heart-bypass surgery performed Sunday in New York. The surgery prompted postponement until January of scheduled regulatory hearings for Axa Midi in Illinois and Idaho--two of nine states in which Farmers’ subsidiaries have their headquarters.

An Axa Midi spokesman said Bebear, 54, intends to participate in a hearing Jan. 16 in California. Axa Midi is allied with Sir James Goldsmith’s Hoylake Investments, which is seeking to take over BAT Industries, a London-based tobacco, retailing, paper products and financial services conglomerate. If Goldsmith succeeds in the $20.4-billion takeover bid, Axa Midi has agreed to invest $1 billion in the takeover and pay an additional $4.5 billion for Farmers.