(Adds business details, background)
February 20 (Reuters) – Australia’s Link Administration said on Monday it was in exclusive talks with Dublin-based fund manager Waystone Group to sell its UK-based Fund Solutions (FS) unit while it finalized the settlement of the Inquiry by the UK financial regulator discussed the unit.
The Australian share registration firm, together with Link Fund Solutions (LFS)
called
it was in advanced confidential discussions with the UK Financial Services Authority to settle its investigation into the management of the now defunct LF Woodford Equity Income Fund.
Link went on to add that even if both ongoing talks were completed, it would not receive any net proceeds from the sale of its FS business, while also warning of a non-cash impairment of nearly A$449 million ($308.4 million) in half-year results related to the affected unit.
That notwithstanding, Link expects semi-annual operating income before interest and tax of A$80.2 million, which is at the high end of the guidance range.
UK based
LFS
was the authorized head of fallen star manager Neil Woodford’s equity fund, which managed billions of pounds before being suspended in 2019 following a political and public outcry that sparked an investigation by the FCA.
LFS was also the biggest pain point in Link’s proposed A$2.47 billion buyout by Canadian firm Dye & Durham, which fell through in September after struggling with regulatory issues.
The Link Group announced on Monday that it had extended its exclusivity period with Waystone in relation to the sale of the FS business, in order to complete all necessary legal agreements before the end of March. ($1 = AUD 1.4558) (Reported by Jaskiran Singh in Bengaluru; Edited by Lisa Shumaker and Diane Craft)
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