A trio of the world's largest insurance and financial services firms have passed the first test in their quest for the wealth business of Australia's ANZ. Widely fancied Japanese firms have not made the cut.
A report in the financial publication «AFR» (behind paywall) claims that pan-Asian life insurer AIA Group, Metlife from the U.S. and Swiss insurance giant Zurich all made it through to the second round.
The units up for sale include ANZ's life insurance operations and funds management arm.
Second Round Starts
The three will now set out to put together binding bids over the coming weeks that could see as much as $5 billion change hands.
According to the article sources within ANZ said that final offers must be into the bank and its adviser Goldman Sachs, by September 15.
The Drop Outs
It confirmed the news means that Dai-Ichi Life-owned TAL, which had been working with adviser Greenhill Australia and accounting firm Deloitte, is no longer in due diligence on the asset.
Among the banks who will be competing are Citi, which is advising AIA alongside Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse which is working with Zurich and Morgan Stanley who are advising fellow Americans Metlife.
ANZ's ideal scenario is for a clean sale however the bank has indicated that a piecemeal sale of the individual parts would be «complicated but not impossible.»
