Quilter offloads international business to Utmost for £483m
Quilter has agreed to sell its international business for £483m as it looks to focus its attention on its UK wealth management division.
The FTSE-listed wealth manager and England rugby sponsor announced the board had unanimously agreed to sell Quilter international to life assurance group Utmost Group.
“It allows us to focus on accelerating our growth and efficiency pans as well as further simplifying and focusing our business around its core UK high net worth and affluent customer position,” chief executive Paul Feeney said.
“It also gives us the ability to deliver a further meaningful capital distribution to shareholders.”
Shares in Quilter are up 3.5 per cent.
An allocation of the net proceeds of the sale, which are expected to be £450m, will be applied as a contribution to Quilter’s full-year dividend.
The firm said Quilter International had become “less strategically aligned” to its UK proposition and the customer overlap has fallen in recent years.
Additionally Quilter International’s net client cash flow as a percentage of opening assets under management and administration (AuMA) has been at a lower rate than the rest of the firm. Quilter added its revenue contribution had been on a “declining annual trend.”
“ Under Quilter’s continued ownership, Quilter International would have required investment to support further cost reduction in order to maintain profitability and facilitate cash distributions,” the company said today.
Last year the wealth manager reported a fall in profit last year as net inflows plunged 40 per cent from £500m to £300m.