AMP spin-off is no done deal

AMP is moving away from a spin-off of its private markets unit with talks advancing to offload the bulk of the local real estate operations to investment house Dexus, and its offshore infrastructure unit to Apollo Global Management or DigitalBridge Group.

The move marks a shift away from AMP’s original plans for a demerger which would have left its funds unit, now rebranded as Collimate Capital, with about $44bn in assets under management.

Both AMP and Dexus declined to comment. The property group is believed to be in prime position after a series of earlier bidders fell away.

On the international side, DigitalBridge and Apollo are the final bidders vying for AMP’s global infrastructure equity division and that will also reach a conclusion in coming weeks.

While a spin-off of Collimate Capital on the ASX is becoming increasingly unlikely, it has yet to be ruled out by AMP’s board, according to sources.