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Market turmoil may delay Old Mutual US IPO

Johannesburg - Anglo-South African financial conglomerate Old Mutual [JSE:OML] has said stock market turmoil may delay the planned initial public offering of its US fund management business next year.

"It is quite clear that the markets are not good. It's looking more and more likely that the IPO may not happen by the end of 2012," Old Mutual CEO Julian Roberts told reporters on a conference call on Friday.

"We don't feel any pressure to rush the IPO, we will take our time and do it when the time is right," Roberts said, adding that floating the funds business is not critical to meeting debt reduction targets.

Global stock markets have slumped in the past five days, with the FTSEurofirst 300 share index down nearly 11% this week, on mounting fears of another US recession and worries about the creditworthiness of Spain and Italy.

Roberts was speaking after Old Mutual reported a better-than-expected 15% increase in its first-half profit, helped by cost cuts and strong growth at Nedbank Group [JSE:NED], its majority-owned South African lender.

He said Old Mutual, which last year made a failed attempt to sell Nedbank to HSBC, is in no hurry to offload the business now.

"I'm in no rush. We're quite happy to have that for quite some time to come," he told Reuters Insider Television.

The proposed Nedbank sale and IPO of the US asset management business are part of a strategic overhaul launched last year, aimed at simplifying Old Mutual's complex structure while paying off £1.5bn of debt by the end of next year.

The company said it has already reduced its debt by £482m, and is on track to deliver on its goals.

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