Share price by Xmas 2019, page-242

AMP Life sale undermined by tardy paperwork

"However, in the chronology provided by RBNZ the buyer of the assets – Resolution Life – appears to have dragged its heels on the paperwork and did not provide concrete details of the transaction until as recently as six weeks ago.

“In October 2018, AMP Life and Resolution publicly announced their intention to proceed with the deal. Resolution Life eventually provided a formal application for Reserve Bank consideration on 7 June 2019,” RBNZ said.Resolution Life is run by Sir Clive Cowdery, a former insurance salesman who has built an empire on buying and managing billions of dollars worth of closed life insurance books, also known as “zombie funds”, in the UK.

RBNZ has previously drawn attention to the fact that Resolution Life is domiciled in the tax haven of Bermuda. Resolution Life was understood to be actively looking for funding to complete the deal. After the deal was spiked Resolution Life issued a short statement saying it was keen to complete it. However, the company has turned down requests to interview Sir Clive.

AMP chairman David Murray wrote to shareholders on Monday saying he was “exceptionally disappointed” the deal had been blocked. AMP said the value of the closed book of policies was now worth around $700 million less than when it announced the deal and the value may continue to fall. Mr Murray said the deal was “highly unlikely” to proceed and AMP scrapped its interim dividend as a result. AMP has declined to answer questions about whether a break-fee was payable."

So the question is: is the road to hell paved with good intentions?