AMP Completes A$650 Million Capital Raising

By Robb M. Stewart

MELBOURNE, Australia--Troubled wealth manager AMP Ltd. (AMP.AU) successfully raised the 650 million Australian dollars (US$442.2 million) it was seeking to launch a strategic reset, selling shares to professional investors at a discount.

AMP said the issue of about 406.3 million new shares to new and existing institutional investors was priced at A$1.60 a share, a 7.5% discount to the last closing price but above the A$1.50 underwritten floor price for the offer.

"The funds raised will allow us to immediately implement our transformational strategy to create a simpler, higher-growth and higher-return AMP that's focused on customers," Chief Executive Insurance Francesco De Ferrari said.

The company plans to next launch a share-purchase offer with smaller shareholders, as it looks to complete a revised deal to sell AMP Life, a basket of mature businesses and its Australian and New Zealand wealth-protection insurance unit, to Resolution Life Group Holdings LP for A$2.5 billion in cash plus a 20% equity interest in a new Australian company controlled by Resolution.

AMP said it plans to invest up to A$1.3 billion over three years as it looks to cut costs, rebuild its core wealth-management operations and position AMP Capital and its banking business for growth.

The financial-services provider has been struggling with the loss of funds after a government-ordered probe in 2018 of misconduct in the country's financial industry heard it was among companies that had charged fees for customer advice it didn't provide and that it had sought to mislead regulators. It recorded net cash outflows of A$3.1 billion in the first half of this year, compared with outflows of A$873 million in the same period last year.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 08, 2019 18:58 ET (22:58 GMT)

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