(Reuters) – Australia’s Perpetual will be broken up, with its name sold to global investment firm KKR & Co, in a deal worth over A$1.5 billion ($990 million), the Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday.
The transaction will represent the biggest overhaul in the fund manager’s 138-year-old history and will give KKR the Perpetual name, AFR reported, citing people who were familiar with the process.
Negotiations around Perpetual’s name had been a big part of the talks, the people said, according to the AFR report.
In late April, Perpetual had confirmed it was in exclusive talks with the U.S.-based buyout firm over a sale of its corporate trust and wealth management business.
KKR and Perpetual did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The deal would help KKR expand its investment management footprint in Australia. Perpetual had recently bought rival Pendal.
Perpetual shares ended 1.1% higher at A$24.02 on Tuesday.
($1 = 1.5152 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
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