i00f shares set to reverse from red with talk

100F shares set to reverse from red with talk of ANZ bid
From: AAP January 19, 2010 4:02PM Increase Text Size
THE fall in IOOF shares today could be short-lived as speculation of an ANZ takeover bid is likely to push the stock higher this week.

IOOF stock lost 13 cents, or 2.02 per cent, to $6.32 by 1452 AEDT today.

Yesterday, 100F shares jumped 43c (7.14 per cent) to $6.45, hitting a 23-month high, following a weekend report that ANZ may make a bid for IOOF.

ANZ added 74c to $23.17 yesterday; by 1452 AEDT today, the bank was trading 2c lower at $23.15.

CMC Markets' senior dealer Matt Lewis put todays IOOF share-price slide down to profit-taking across the financial sector and said the stock was likely to trade higher again.

I think it is just profit-taking, he said.

I believe that where there is smoke there is fire and (IOOF) seems to be a good fit for one of the financial institutions.

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Mr Lewis said a tilt for IOOF had been touted for some time and an acquisition would be consistent with other moves toward consolidation in the sector.

It really is an add-on or bolt-on business for the likes of ANZ, particularly from a local perspective, he said.

Last year, ANZ paid $1.76 billion to take full control of its wealth management joint venture with ING Australia by acquiring ING Australia's 51 per cent stake in that unit.

National Australia Bank acquired wealth manager and insurer Aviva for $825 million and paid $99m for 80.1 per cent of Goldman Sachs JBWere's retail wealth management and broking business.

In December, NAB made a $13.29bn bid for AXA Asia Pacific, trumping an earlier proposal for AXA by AMP.

IOOF merged with Australian Wealth Management last April in a $540 million all-scrip deal, with AWM managing director Chris Kelaher leading the merged entity and seeking $20m in annualised cost-savings.

That may have been a move to ward off predators last year but now they are a good candidate for a larger scale financial institution, Mr Lewis said.

IOOF posted an annual net profit of $15.8m for 2008/09.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/industry-sectors/f-shares-set-to-reverse-from-red-with-talk-of-anz-bid/story-e6frg96f-1225821289099