New bidders circle Insight
BANK of New York Mellon and Northern Trust have made a late entry into the race to buy the majority of Insight, the asset manager that Lloyds Banking Group inherited from HBOS, sources said yesterday.
Both US banks are understood to have presented binding offers for the unit, valued at between £230m and £250m, with Lloyds expected to identify its preferred bidder within weeks.
Hellman & Friedman, the private equity owner of fund manager Gartmore, has also submitted a bid but sources said that it had offered less than £200m and was effectively out of the chase.
Insight, which has some £75bn in third-party assets under management, was acquired with the takeover of HBOS last year.
The business is considered ripe for sale due to an overlap with Lloyds’ existing asset management business Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, which had £77.25bn assets under management as of the end of March.
The sale process is being managed by Insight’s chief executive Abdallah Nauphal, who is said to be keen that the unit does not fall into the hands of a large fund management group.
Fund manager Schroders is also understood to have ditched initial plans to table a bid for the business.