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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
OLD Mutual group plc will soon embark on a managed separation exercise that will see the group being split into four clusters.

Managed separation entails that the business units will become stand alone operations with no group head office to rely on.

Old Mutual Zimbabwe Limited (OMZL), a strategic business unit for the group, revealed this in a reviewed financial statement for the six months ended June 30, 2016.

It said the outcome and implications of the managed separation exercise would be advised by Old Mutual plc.

“OMZL has been advised by its ultimate parent company, Old Mutual plc that the Old Mutual group is embarking on a managed separation exercise under which the Old Mutual plc group will be split into four clusters, namely Old Mutual Wealth, Old Mutual Asset Management, DEDBANK and Old Mutual Emerging Markets.’’

At present, OMZL falls under the Old Mutual Emerging Markets cluster.

It is believed that the separation of parent group Old Mutual plc will result in specialised focus on expansion Old Mutual Emerging Markets (OMEM).

OMZL chief executive officer Mr Jonas Mushosho is on record as saying the managed separation will not negatively impact Old Mutual Zimbabwe or OMEM.

He has indicated that the separation exercise will offer a significant opportunity for them in the sense that the OMEM to which his organisation belongs will be listed as a separate business.

During the period under review, OMZL recorded a profit before tax amounting to $15,9 million comparted to $14,6 million.

Old Mutual plc was splitting itself following a strategic exercise that was carried out that showed that the group faced significant share price discounts due to a conglomerate discount and increased regulatory costs.

Among others, this was because regulators across the globe were no longer in favour of huge financial conglomerates.

@okazunga