Australia’s Perpetual in exclusivity talks with Bain Capital for wealth unit sale

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(Reuters) -Australia’s Perpetual said on Wednesday it had entered into an exclusivity deal with private investment firm Bain Capital for the sale of its wealth management business.

The company, however, said there is no certainty that the talks would lead to a binding deal.

Perpetual has been seeking to offload its wealth unit for some time. In 2024, it announced a A$2.18 billion ($1.42 billion) deal with buyout giant KKR to sell its wealth management and corporate trust businesses.

The Sydney-headquartered firm later terminated talks with KKR and said it would instead pursue a sale of its wealth management business separately.

At its full-year results, the wealth management business reported an annual revenue of A$235.6 million, a 4% rise from last year.

However, underlying profit before tax fell 5%, with the company attributing the decline to weaker growth in non-market related revenue and higher expenses.

The unit has A$21.5 billion funds under advice, as per its annual report.

Wealth management has become a hotbed for dealmaking in Australia, with superannuation and wealth manager Insignia once being at the centre of a A$3.3 billion takeover tussle with several bidders, including Bain Capital, circling the firm.

Founded in 1886, Perpetual has also drawn in takeover interest over the years.

In 2022, it turned down an A$1.7 billion takeover bid from a consortium, which comprised local portfolio manager Regal Partners, while in 2023, it had rejected an A$3.1 billion takeover offer from its largest shareholder, Washington H Soul Pattinson.

Shares of Pepetual were 0.5% down in volatile early trading.

($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee; Editing by Alan Barona)