‘I need to be very clear, I disagree’: AMP Chair against controversial fire sale

AMP is under significant mounting pressure over a decision to sell its life insurance business in a $3.3-billion fire sale.

Some shareholders are furious with the decision and are threatening to call an extraordinary general meeting to stop the deal.

But the financial services giant is pushing back against the revolt.

AMP Chairman David Murray tells Ross Greenwood he didn’t expect such an adverse reaction when the announcement was made.

But despite AMP’s board declaring the sale is in the best interest of shareholders, Mr Murray has disagreed.

“Firstly Ross, I need to be very clear, I disagree. The board thinks this is in the best interest of AMP shareholders.

“Investors could easily see from our disclosures the deterioration in value in this business… and also knew from our accounts how much of that was attributed to reinsurance costs.

“This is the fourth major life business to be sold in recent history, so investors should’ve been, particularly sophisticated investors, should’ve been on notice that there are more sellers of this sort of business than buyers.

“And that the buyers have been foreign with significantly lower costs of capital.”

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