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The company, however, said there is no certainty that the talks would lead to a binding deal. Sign up here. Perpetual has been seeking to offload its wealth unit for some time. In 2024, it announced a A$2.18 billion ($1.42 billion) deal with buyout giant KKR to sell its wealth management and corporate trust businesses. The Sydney-headquartered firm later terminated talks with KKR and said it would instead pursue a sale of its wealth management business separately. At its full-year results, the wealth management business reported an annual revenue of A$235.6 million, a 4% rise from last year. However, underlying profit before tax fell 5%, with the company attributing the decline to weaker growth in non-market related revenue and higher expenses. The unit has A$21.5 billion funds under advice, as per its annual report. Wealth management has become a hotbed for dealmaking in Australia, with superannuation and wealth manager Insignia once being at the centre of a A$3.3 billion takeover tussle with several bidders, including Bain Capital, circling the firm. Founded in 1886, Perpetual has also drawn in takeover interest over the years. Shares of Pepetual were 0.5% down in volatile early trading. ($1 = 1.5389 Australian dollars) Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee; Editing by Alan Barona
