Quilter is reportedly attracting attention from private equity firm Warburg Pincus 18 months after it listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Sources told Bloomberg the US company has held discussions about a possible bid but isn’t currently in formal talks with Quilter. The reports, published on Tuesday afternoon, prompted shares to jump 12% to 172.45p before closing the day at 165.5p.
In 2016, a number of private equity firms, including Warburg Pincus, showed interest in the UK wealth management arm of Old Mutual, which would later become Quilter. At the time, the group said it would only consider bids for its UK wealth arm if they received a “knockout offer”.
Quilter listed on the London stock exchange in June 2018 at a price of £1.45 per share creating a market-cap of £2.75bn.
Old Mutual announced its plans to break up into four businesses in 2016 arguing they would be more profitable as standalone businesses.
Alongside the UK wealth business, which became Quilter, it was also separated into South African bank Nedbank; OM Asset Management, a US asset manager, and Old Mutual Emerging Markets, a life assurance, investment and lending operation spanning Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In June 2018, the single strategy business, OMGI, was spun out of Quilter to become Merian Global Investors, in a managed buy out led by Richard Buxton.
