JOHANNESBURG Jan 31 (Reuters) – Insurers Old Mutual
and Sanlam are in talks to set up a
joint venture to buy JPMorgan’s South African fund
administration unit, a senior Sanlam executive said on Tuesday.
The deal would give Sanlam and London-based Old Mutual
control of the back-office unit that administers investments for
fund managers, said Kobus Moller, Sanlam’s financial director.
“Sanlam and Old Mutual are the two biggest clients of that
unit, so I think it makes sense,” Moller said.
“The terms still have to be decided on, so it’s still early
in the process.”
A spokeswoman for JPMorgan declined to comment.
The U.S. investment bank announced plans last year to boost
its presence in fast-growing frontier African markets with a
full branch in Nigeria and representative offices in Ghana and
Kenya to add to its regional headquarters in Johannesburg.
Although several Western banks have announced plans to bulk
up in Africa, some efforts appear to be delayed by the euro zone
debt crisis and stricter regulations on capital.
Last November, Credit Agricole said it was
shutting down its 60-year-old South African investment banking
unit, to help it meet new capital rules.
Continued…
