| Lloyds TSB, Fortis said to be in talks to set up a JV |
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LONDON: Lloyds TSB Group Plc. is mulling a merger of its asset management business with a unit of Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis NV. The two groups are in talks, according to newspaper reports.
The plan centres on the creation of a joint venture with Lloyds TSB hiving of its Edinburgh-based Scottish Widows Investment Partnership. Fortis refused to comment on the report, but the firm had said earlier it is looking into possible options for its Fortis Investments. Lloyds TSB too did not comment on the report.
Analysts said a combination of British and European fund management companies makes sense. It can create an European asset management powerhouse with greater buying and selling clout, on top of substantial cost savings and longer distribution reach.
It is known that Fortis is on the look out for a JV partner for its 68 billion fund management business and Lloyds TSB's Scottish Widows is among the top 10 asset management groups in Europe with 87.5 billion pound funds under its management. Lloyds TSB had bought Scottish Widows for 7 billion pounds in 1999.
Chief executive Eric Daniels has publicly said he would want to retain Scottish Widows as part of his growth strategy for the bank. But, he needs to have other avenues to strengthen his balance sheet and bolster defences against a possible take over bid.
Lloyds had explored possibilities of tie-ups with ABN Amro, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria of Spain and Germany's Deutsche Bank, but there has been no evidence of any deal.
Posted
on : Fri, 11 Nov 2005 17:45 GMT | Banking News
By : Paula Jenkins
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