“There’s nothing definitive on the listing,” Old Mutual South Africa chief executive David Macready told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
“It intuitively makes sense that Old Mutual Emerging Markets will be re-domiciled and listed in South Africa,” he said according to Bloomberg News.
The potential listing of the emerging markets division, which includes Old Mutual South Africa and short-term insurer Mutual & Federal, is being considered as part of Old Mutual Plc’s planned managed separation of its business into four units.
Full potential
The four units will be: South African bank Nedbank; UK wealth manager Old Mutual Wealth; US asset manager OM Asset Management; and Old Mutual Emerging Markets, the company’s life assurance, investment and lending operation which spans Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
“We are in the process of consulting with our stakeholders and we will update the market about which route we decide to take at the end of the year.”
“We have four strong businesses that can reach their full potential by freeing them from the costs and constraints of the group,” chief executive Bruce Hemphill said when the break up was announced in March.
Nedbank
In March, the company advised that it expects to cut its 54% stake in Nedbank Group to “an appropriate strategic minority position” but had not yet decided how to achieve it.
Old Mutual will continue its “working relationship with Nedbank”, Macready said Wednesday, adding that the insurer “will always have a significant and strategic stake in Nedbank”.
No decision has yet been reached on how to distribute Nedbank’s shares, said OM South Africa chief financial officer, Michael Goemans: “It may make sense for Nedbank to have South African shareholders.”
No decisions yet
A spokesperson for Old Mutual told International Adviser: “We have a number of routes that we can take to reach our managed separation and no decisions have been made yet. We are going to look at all of the routes with regard to value, cost, and risk minimisation.
“We are in the process of consulting with our stakeholders and we will update the market at the end of the year,” he added.
