AMPconfirmed today that it has received preliminary proposals from other financial groups regarding a possible acquisition, chairman Peter Wilcox told investors at the group’s annual general meeting in Sydney.
However Wilcox stressed the notions of interest that had been made in the beleaguered financial services group were very rudimentary and lacked the formality to constitute a serious offering.
“They invariably carry a caveat that the proposal doesn’t constitute a proposal and therefore is not something that is easily disclosable… there has been no proposal that has led to a recommendation to the board,” Wilcox told investors this morning.
However according toInvestors Mutualinvestment director Anton Tagliaferro any organisation considering acquiring the AMP group will do it through friendly acquisition.
“I don’t believe any body has enough confidence in the numbers and therefore don’t think anyone is going to embark on a hostile take over bid of AMP. I mean you’re not going to get National Australia Bank tomorrow bidding $6 a share in the hope that what they’re buying is good,” Tagliaferro says.
“Given what’s happened, and given the continual write-downs and downgrades I would be very surprised if there’s a hostile takeover bid. Anybody seriously interested in the AMP would want to do their own due diligence and that would require company permission.”
Tagliaferro believes the major domestic banks can be ruled out at this stage, despite some market speculation that NAB may be interested, but he adds that internationallyHSBCmay be a possibility.
“There are only really a handful of natural acquirers of the AMP, and in the case of NAB they would have Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issues because between NAB and AMP they’d control 30-35 per cent of Australia’s financial planners,” he says.
A number of AMP shareholders voiced their dissatisfaction at today’s AGM held at Angel Place in Sydney. The main points of contention were the depreciation of the share price over the past 18 months, executive remuneration packages, being held “hostage” to the UK share market and the company’s writedowns and capital raisings.
Wilcox did not offer any excuses as he told investors “put simply, AMP had too much of your money in the wrong business, at the wrong time, in the wrong place”.
