Old Mutual may shelve plans to list wealth management unit, report says

Old Mutual may hold off from listing its UK wealth management unit as a result of the mounting costs of upgrading its investment platform.

Its managers were now leaning towards a sale, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

However, the preferred option of the wealth managers’ own executives continued to be a flotation.

London-based Old Mutual began revamping its platform in 2013 and now expected to finish in 2019, versus an original end-date of 2016.

In parallel, the costs accruing to Old Mutual had ballooned from an initially estimated £160m to as high as £450m.

Another personal familiar with the matter told Bloomberg the UK’s third largest wealth manager, on the basis of assets under administration, had already contacted possible buyers.

Old Mutual boss Bruce Hemphill’s plans then current plans were to pursue a wider break-up, including demerging its wealth, asset management and emerging-markets units as well as South African-based lender Nedbank Group.

As of 1510 BST shares in Old Mutual were trading up by 0.93% to 195.70p.