ANZ Banking Group has received $4 billion-plus offers for its wealth division and is now assessing them.
At least one offer was pitched in the high $4 billions by Friday's deadline for final bids, according to the «Australian Financial Review» (behind paywall). U.S. bank Goldman Sachs is managing the auction. Switzerland's Zurich and U.S. group MetLife submitted bids on Friday, sources said to the Australian publication.
While ANZ preferred bids for the entire wealth operations, contractual arrangements with third parties for parts of the business were not precluded. ANZ has been streamlining its operations across Asia and hiring digital expertise as the CEO seeks to make the bank a lean contemporary financial services provider.
The unit on the block consists of ANZ's life insurance operations and funds management arm. Within the wealth division are a number of financial planning dealer groups. The Melbourne based institution sees auction as a way of finding a partner which will manufacture wealth products that will still be available to the bank's customers.
