@ipsofactoid. I agree with the last sentence on your post . I still think RPL would be the logical acquirer.....
However there is absolutely no rush. Things are going to get a lot worse at PTM before they get better. The SP will most likely fall a lot further as institutions and rating houses follow each other like sheep with downgrades and pulling mandates. Retail money outflow will continue for the foreseeable future. I can pretty much guarantee that no financial advisor is going to put a client into any Platinum Fund (as part of an SOA or an annual review) for the next 12 months given past performance, the exodus of investment staff, and the inevitable fund rating downgrades. If I were RPL, I would wait until the new CEO (Jeff Peters) does all the heavy lifting in restructuring and stripping costs out of the PTM organisation, and then lobbing a bid once fund performance has improved (relative to benchmark), and FUM outflows have stabilised. That could be years away.
(20min delay)