ING moves into bidding contest for Bridges
Mercantile Mutual will become one of the top three players in the Australian funds management industry if plans by the ING Group to buy Bridges Financial Services go ahead.
A report in today’s Australian Financial Review confirmed that ING Asia-Pacific has thrown its hat into the ring for the purchase of Bridges.
The report says that ING regards Australia as a strategic market and that ING is committed to growing distribution, life insurance and funds under management. Mercantile Mutual curren
Mercantile Mutual will become one of the top three players in the Australian funds management industry if plans by the ING Group to buy Bridges Financial Services go ahead.
A report in today’s Australian Financial Review confirmed that ING Asia-Pacific has thrown its hat into the ring for the purchase of Bridges.
The report says that ING regards Australia as a strategic market and that ING is committed to growing distribution, life insurance and funds under management. Mercantile Mutual currently has $30 billion funds under management. Bridges would give the group access to customers, assets under management and distribution.
With a price tag in excess of $150 million, the sale of Bridges has attracted a number of interested bidders. However, chief executive Colin Scully, who has announced his intention to step down from the role at the end of the month, says the group has gone through its own selection process and will select an organisation it feels comfortable with. He says the group’s owner, CUSCAL, is not interested in selling to a competitor.
AMP is strongly rumoured to be interested in purchasing the group, however neither AMP nor Bridges will confirm the rumour. AMP made a $34.6 million bid for Godfrey Pembroke last year, but ultimately lost out to MLC who paid $40.6 million.
Bridges Financial Services has a total of 115 financial planners nationwide servicing 45,000 clients. It holds $2.5 billion funds under management and an additional $2 billion under advice.
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