CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING
HILARY JOFFE: Old Mutual untying knots ahead of complex demerger and new listings
On the eve of Old Mutual’s full-year results announcement on Thursday, UK financial services giant Prudential said it planned to split into two separately listed firms, one housing its UK businesses and the other its fast-growing emerging markets and US businesses. Sound familiar? "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery," was Old Mutual chairman Patrick O’ Sullivan’s response. If all goes according to plan, Old Mutual’s results will have been the group’s last as a London-listed plc before it splits into two separate companies, each of which will list in its own right in coming months, undoing a head office structure that was created almost two decades ago when the group demutualised and listed in London in 1999.One, Quilter, houses the group’s UK wealth management business and will have its primary listing in London with a secondary listing in Johannesburg. The other, Old Mutual Ltd (OML), houses the group’s South African and emerging markets businesses, including its 54% of Ned...
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