New Zealand Stock Markets
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group is gauging interest in its
New Zealand life insurance division after the sale of its life unit
across the Tasman shook out prospective buyers for the Kiwi business.
The lender sent an email to New Zealand staff yesterday saying it was
engaging with a small number of parties to test their appetite for
buying the business, spokesman Stefan Herrick said.
ANZ's sale of its
Australian OnePath Life unit for A$2.85 billion to Zurich Financial
Services Australia sparked interest in the New Zealand division, which
the Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column reported could
attract a price tag of A$700 million to A$900 million.
Three of Australia's 'four pillars' have sold their life insurance
units as they contend with tighter prudential requirements, selling
assets and raising capital to ensure they meet the regulator's levels.
Still, ANZ's Herrick said insurance remains a core part of its
business, and that "will continue irrespective of any decision on who
manufactures our life insurance products".
ANZ had also planned to sell its New Zealand finance company, UDC
Finance, although that deal was scuttled by the Overseas Investment
Office when it couldn't uncover the ultimate owners of the proposed
buyer, HNA Group, and separately the lender sold its online trading
platform Direct Capital to First NZ Capital.
The tyre-kicking comes the same week law firm Chapman Tripp released
its annual mergers & acquisitions trends and insights report
anticipated financial services would be one of the busier sectors for
corporate takeover activity this year due in part to the Australian
lenders scaling back the breadth of their services.
The dual-listed stock fell 1.3 percent to $30.30 on the NZX today, having declined 2.6 percent so far this year.
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