JOHANNESBURG - Old Mutual Wealth said yesterday that it remained on track to list next year, with the intention to complete this listing as early as possible in 2018, subject to regulatory and other approvals.
This would be done to reflect the separate identity of the newly-listed business and its strategy to become one of the UK’s leading integrated wealth management businesses.
“Old Mutual Wealth will also announce that, upon separation from Old Mutual plc, it will operate as Quilter plc, with origins dating back to 1771. Quilter is a brand that stands for quality, personal service and dependability; values that remain at the heart of Old Mutual Wealth’s business philosophy today,” the group said.
Chief executive Paul Feeney said: “We have made tremendous progress over the last five years in building this unique and successful business. We are well-positioned to build on what we have achieved in one of the world’s largest and growing wealth management markets.”
He added that by having two distinct, but complementary segments, it would help the company to continue to deliver good customer outcomes for new and existing customers.
“Our recently reported third quarter year-to-date flows demonstrate continued strong demand for our investment solutions and services,” he said.
Old Mutual announced last year that it planned to break itself up into four parts. After listing the wealth business will be split into two divisions: Advice and Wealth Management and Wealth Platforms.
Rahima Cassim, a fund manager at Ashburton Investments, said it was too early to tell about the path the company will take as the presentation was only yesterday afternoon.
“But so far they have told us that they will re-segment the business into two divisions. Certainly as a stand-alone business there are certain elements of the strategy that would change, but overall the business strategy should not deviate significantly from the track it is on now,” Cassim said.
She added that the business rebranding would occur over two years and so there is time to introduce small changes to clients without causing discomfort.
BayHill Capital’s equities trader Jordan Weir said besides the rebranding of its wealth business, Quilter was looking to build on and follow through on its strategy and the strong foundations that were set in motion around five years ago.
“Quilter will continue to focus on having its segments working together in a complimentary, vertically integrated fashion into the foreseeable future,” Weir said. He added that for now Quilter had made it clear it intended to stick to its strategic growth plan going into 2018.