Quilter to sell international business to Utmost for £483m

(Sharecast News) - Quilter has agreed to sell its international business to life assurance company Utmost for around £483m as it looks to simplify the group and focus on its higher growth UK wealth management business.
It said the sale, which has been unanimously agreed by the board, is in the best interests of shareholders "and is expected to support the continued delivery of good outcomes for customers and other stakeholders".

The transaction is expected to complete around the end of the year, conditional on shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Chief executive Paul Feeney said: "It allows us to focus on accelerating our growth and efficiency plans as well as further simplifying and focusing our business around its core UK high net worth and affluent customer proposition. It also gives us the ability to deliver a further meaningful capital distribution to shareholders. With the recent completion of our platform transformation programme, we are set up for strong growth."

Quilter also said on Thursday that from the beginning of next year, it will target annualised net client cash flow growth of at least 6% of opening assets under management and administration in the medium term, up from its previous 5% a year target and "reflecting the revised corporate perimeter which will exclude the lower growth Quilter International business".