LONDON — Old Mutual is splitting for a decent reason: it can. The Anglo-South African group took the bracingly unusual step on March 11 of admitting its four main businesses have little reason to stay together. The same goes for other corporate entities, but the stars rarely align such that companies do anything about it.First item on the sanity check: Old Mutual’s breakup makes sense. The company’s £9bn market value could theoretically rise by a fifth if its four businesses — an emerging markets financials arm, a UK wealth manager, a separately listed US asset manager and a stake in Nedbank — were split apart, according to Breakingviews calculations.New Old Mutual CEO Bruce Hemphill didn’t bring any sacred cows with him when he joined in November. European capital regulations don’t give Old Mutual the credit its true solvency position implies. And SA’s currency, in which the majority of Old Mutual’s earnings are generated, fell 27% against sterling in 2015.All this potentially appl...
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