County sale moves forward
The sale of County Investment Management has taken a further step forward with the release of an information memorandum to interested buyers this week.
The release follows the National's decision to sell County in the wake of its acquisition of MLC.
County chairman Charles Macek says he can not reveal any names of interested parties, but he did hint that there could be possible interests offshore.
"What we're entering in is a highly formal process, one that we're not driving," Macek says.
"All we know is that there are a significant number of people who have indicated their interest."
A group rumoured to be interested in County is French fund manager Societe Generale (SocGen).
The Paris-based group is apparently in the market to buy fund managers, but with the current European market, the group is opting to build a business in Australia around key executives it recruits.
Melbourne-based NAB hired investment bank Putnam Lovell Securities in August to find a buyer for County Investment. In the three years since the National bought County, funds under management have grown from $9 billion to $15 billion.
News of the sale has been greeted dimly by Morningstar. The research house downgraded County from a four star rating to a two star rating.
Morningstar chief executive Graham Rich says many of County's funds are in a state of flux and turmoil following the announcement of the sale.
Rich says the changes within the National Australia Bank funds generally affected County as well as the overexposure to the Loy Yang Indexed Annuity.
County announced in early August that it had frozen a number of cash and bond funds after it experienced liquidity problems with the Loy Yang power station fixed interest securities.
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When it comes to M&A activity, the share of financial buyers such as private equity firms in Australia fell from 67 per cent to 12 per cent in the last financial year.
