CBA Sets Sight On Lloyds’ Fund Management Arm

Since the global financial crisis is at its peak, CBA is using the opportunity of diminish valuations to buy the assets of battered banks.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is competing for a stake in Insight Investment Management’s third-party funds business, Lloyds Banking Group’s fund-management arm. Other potential buyers invited to the first round of bid includes the blue-chip fund manager - Schroders, private equity groups Hellman & Friedman, and Advent International.

The Insight Investment Management portfolio includes fixed-income funds and pension funds, representing more than 50% of Insight’s assets under management, with the remainder made up of £80 billion of Clerical Medical life insurance funds. The bid is estimated to bring up to £300 million, The Sunday Times reported.

This is not the first time the Australian lending major has bought the assets of distressed UK bank reeling under the ongoing global financial turmoil. Last year it has purchased HBOS' Australian unit BankWest for at a heavily discounted price of $2.1 billion.

The auction process is being conducted discreetly and follows a review of Lloyds’ asset-management and insurance business. Abdallah Nauphal, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, has appointed Fenchurch Advisory Partners to examine its options.