NAB Mulls Wealth Management IPO
National Australia Bank is looking at radical options for its wealth-management units, according to media reports. The Aussie bank is well into a process to create a structure worth some A$6 billion in market value.
The Melbourne-based bank continues to reshape and simplify its wealth business. Last June, NAB sold the National Australia Trustee business to IOOF Holdings.
It then sold its private wealth business in Singapore and Hong Kong to Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, a move that mirrored the sale by ANZ to DBS of its Asian retail and wealth units.
Now, NAB is said to have held discussions with investment banks on separating and floating several wealth and investment units according to a report in «The Australian Financial Review» (behind paywall). Analysts predict such a structure could report annual profit worth up to A$300 million and attract about A$6 billion market value.
