ANZ in talks to buy IOOF Holdings: report
16 Jan 2010
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) is in preliminary takeover talks with fund manager IOOF Holdings Ltd., The Age newspaper reported today.
A combination of ANZ and IOOF would create the third-biggest player in retail funds, with about $65 billion in funds under management.
Discussions are ongoing with no certainty of the outcome, the paper said, citing people with knowledge of the talks.
Any transaction could top $1.3 billion, although ANZ would most likely use a mix of shares and cash to strike a deal to preserve its $3 billion cash pile.
It would also represent the first move by ANZ inside Australia since it took full ownership of ING Australia wealth management joint venture in September.
In December, it acquired Royal Bank of Scotland Group's (RBS) Vietnam business (See: ANZ acquires RBS' Vietnam business).
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