CommBank to float CFSGAM
The Commonwealth Bank has moved to float off Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM) following a strategic review started late last year.
The big banking group announced its decision late yesterday stating that while the CFSGAM business had achieved significant growth, scale and diversification under its current ownership structure, the strategic review had determined that an independent ownership model would provide greater benefits.
“Accordingly, Commonwealth Bank intends to pursue an initial public offering of CFSGAM on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) by the end of calendar year 2018, subject to market conditions and necessary approvals,” the banking group said.
It said that in preparation for the potential listing, Commonwealth Bank and CFSGAM had approached several candidates who had agreed to join the board of CFSGAM as independent non-executive directors pursuant to the potential IPO.
The announcement said the candidate directors included John Mulcahy (who would be appointed as Chairman), Susan Doyle, James Millar, Gail Pemberton and Richard Wastcoat.
It said additional directors might be approached to join the board ahead of the potential IPO with Mark Lazberger continuing in his role as chief executive and being appointed as an executive director of the board
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