Advent International, Bain Capital and Carlyle are among the buyout funds considering launching bids, while rival private equity giants Cinven and Warburg Pincus have already reportedly lodged a joint bid for Old Mutual’s London-based wealth division.
According to The Sunday Times sources, the South African finance group would only consider bids for its UK wealth arm if they received a “knockout offer”.
Old Mutual split
The news follows an announcement made in early March by Old Mutual Wealth that it had decided to break up its business into four separate units by 2018 in a bid to cut costs.
The FTSE 100 group confirmed that the split will include separating the firm into South African bank Nedbank, UK wealth manager Old Mutual Wealth, OM Asset Management and Old Mutual Emerging Markets, as it believes they will perform better independently.
Old Mutual Wealth also owns wealth firm Quilter Cheviot and adviser network Intrinsic, which it acquired in the last two years to sit alongside its funds business Old Mutual Global Investors.
Stockmarket listing
Industry experts speculate that if a sufficient private equity offer is not made, an independent stockmarket listing is likely to be pursued by Old Mutual Wealth, following the break-up of the group.
