The rubber is finally starting to hit the road at Perpetual’s mooted divestment of wealth and corporate trust business, four months after the $2.85 billion group was forced to announce a strategic review.Street Talk can reveal US buyout firm TA Associates and its Swedish counterpart EQT Partners are set to cross the enemy lines and work together as joint bidders in the auction’s final lap.
Of note, London-headquartered private capital player Permira has tapped out after submitting a non-binding indicative proposal to acquire both units. Lastly, Washington H Soul Pattinson, which put the company in play in December with a swiftly rejected bid, is still holding on to a 15 per cent stake. Soul Patts is understood to have skipped on participating in the current process, after being asked to sign a standstill agreement on its share purchases. However, there is no doubt that it would be watching from the sidelines to see how the strategic review plays out.
Perpetual Wealth Management oversaw $19.1 billion at December 31, which boiled down to $111 million in revenue and $26 million in underlying profit before tax for the half-year.