(Reuters) – Australia’s Perpetual Ltd on Monday said it has ended talks with KKR for the sale of its wealth management and corporate trust units, while confirming plans to pursue a sale of its wealth management business separately.
The deal with KKR, which was initially announced in May last year, was deemed to be not in the best interests of shareholders by an independent expert.
“Board has determined that the value and terms of those revised proposals, including the various conditions included, were not in the best interests of shareholders and discussions have now ended,” the company said in a statement.
Perpetual, a fund manager, added it was “determined to pursue a sale of the wealth management business”.
KKR did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
An A$2.2 billion ($1.40 billion) deal with buyout firm KKR for the businesses had been on the back burner over the past two months after Perpetual received a much higher-than-expected tax bill.
(Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru, editing by Deepa Babington and Sonali Paul)
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