CUP acquisition of Count financial, page-2

"That was a really low price. Any comments on what that might mean for the ANZ transaction value and the value of IFL at the moment?"

Given that the $140bn vendor of Count Financial would not have been overly discerning as to what price it received (given the events of the past 12 months, one might reasonably describe it as a distressed sale), I'm not too sure that it can mean very much at all for the value of IFL.

In fact, so indiscriminate was the vendor, that it actually paid the acquirer to take the business ... CUP is paying $2.5m for a fully-indemnified business that has $15m in net assets and $12.5m in net cash!)

So if that is any precedent to go by, where wealth businesses are effectively changing hands with a negative implied value, between industry incumbents, then I believe it would be in IFL's interests for the ANZ to not proceed and for IFL to retain its cash for pursuing other deals.

(Of course, when acquirers of wealth management businesses get more cash within those acquired businesses than what they are paying for them, then IFL doesn't really have any need for capital at all; the company could simply embark on the mother of all buybacks of its own stock while at the same time participating in acquisitions from industry participants for negative consideration.)