ANZ Banking Group has hopes for its up-for-sale wealth unit. 

Sources said there were some big numbers in front of tyrekickers - and most notably a $9.5 billion valuation which is about twice what most analysts expected the transaction to be worth. 

It's understood the $9.5 billion was an "appraisal value" for the unit and featured prominently in the ANZ wealth unit's information memorandum, distributed a few weeks ago. 

We're told that the appraisal value was aimed at capturing ANZ wealth's existing business, the present value of future policies and other business written, and its chunky back book.

It's a number derived by the actuaries - like so many things in the world of insurance - and, as always, will be taken with a grain of salt. 

But it's also known to have put the frights through the bidding groups, who reckon they could struggle to get anywhere near that amount. 

ANZ and its adviser Goldman Sachs will know more when first round bids land on June 9.

It is understood the sell-side made a late change to push the bid date back into June, having earlier targeted a late May first round close. 

Bidders will no doubt welcome the extra time given the size and complexity of the potential deal. 

It'll be interesting to see whether ANZ finds a buyer for the whole business, which includes its Australian life insurance unit and funds management. It's easy to see separate buyers for the two main parts of the business, although it would likely be less complex and more palatable for ANZ to sell the unit to one buyer. 

What wasn't in the IM was ANZ wealth's trading performance for the six months to March 31. 

The bank announced this week that profit for the half was $123 million, down from $157 million in the prior six-month period, while its embedded value in the insurance and funds management business increased to $4.56 billion up from $4.26 billion at the same time last year. 

Importantly, the number of insurance policies in force increased - albeit modestly - while average funds under management was stable. 

Despite the complexities, ANZ's wealth unit looks to have attracted a field of heavyhitters. While it's only early in the process, parties lining up include: Dai-Ichi Life-owned TAL, advised by Greenhill Australia and Deloitte; AMP advised by UBS; pan-Asian life insurer AIA Group, working with Citigroup and Deutsche Bank; Zurich, advised by Credit Suisse; and Metlife which has mandated Morgan Stanley. It's understood there are also at least a few other parties in the dataroom. 

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Origin Energy has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to work on the proposed float of its $1.5 billion-plus oil and gas arm Lattice Energy.

As Street Talk revealed on Tuesday, BAML joins the Lattice Energy ticket as a joint lead manager alongside Origin Energy's financial advisers Macquarie Capital and UBS.

Origin is expected to seek to raise more than $1 billion as part of the IPO, and BAML's appointment comes as the utilities giant and its sponsor brokers prepare to ramp up marketing efforts.

A deal is slated for the third quarter, after Origin's full-year results in August.

The IPO bid is expected to be pitted against offers from trade and strategic buyers, who are already in a two-stage auction underway via Macquarie Capital and UBS. [Macquarie and UBS were named as financial advisers and joint lead managers when the spin-off was announced in December.]

Beach Energy leads the field of potential trade buyers, and is expected to come up against other listed oil and gas players including Senex Energy and offshore strategic investors.

An information memorandum was sent to interested parties last month, sources said, with bids due in mid-May.

Origin is understood to prefer to list Lattice Energy on the ASX boards. However, chief executive officer Frank Calabria wants to at least test market interest.

Up for grabs is Lattice Energy, the newly named spin-off that includes Origin's eastern Australia upstream assets including Cooper Basin, Otway and BassGas, its Perth Basin assets and Petrel discovery off the coast of Western Australia.

Analysts reckon the company is worth $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion, depending on oil price assumptions, with proceeds of up to $1.5 billion to Origin.

Origin is expected to use the proceeds to pay down the company's debt to less than $9 billion.

BAML's role on the IPO comes as it is almost finished auctioning a portfolio of infrastructure assets for Origin. It was also named as a joint lead manager on the retail portion of Origin's $2.5 billion rights issue in 2015. Macquarie Capital was sole underwriter on that deal.

Street Talk flagged the likely appointment of a third broker for Lattice Energy in January.

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It's crunch time for Cromwell Property Group's close to $3 billion tilt for Investa Office Fund. 

There is still posturing around whether a binding bid will eventuate and key decisions need to be made ahead of the month's end.

The size of the offer is again in the spotlight, but the other point of contention has been Cromwell's ability to fund a binding bid. 

It has submitted an indicative proposal and was granted access to a dataroom, but the target's board has repeatedly said it is yet to receive a binding offer "capable of acceptance." 

Interestingly, South Africa's Redefine Properties - which owns more than 25 per cent of Cromwell - told its own shareholders of the Investa due diligence and "third-party equity backing" at its half-year result on Monday. 

That raised further questions about whether Redefine would tip equity into the Investa offer or rely on other backers. 

Redefine also revealed gearing in the order of 40 per cent and unutilised committed bank facilities of 4.6 billion rand ($457 million).

Street Talk revealed Redefine was part of a group of equity and debt backers of the Cromwell bid, alongside lenders Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Credit Agricole.

The Cromwell camp say they have provided the target's board with a detailed list of equity and debt backers and there are no qualms around funding an offer. The issue from their side is said to be getting access to the assets and sites to make more informed decisions. 

The situation was exacerbated by Investa's fund releasing fresh valuations, increasing the value of its portfolio by 5 per cent, or $183 million.

The other pressure point is that Investa outlined a May 31 shareholder vote so that it can facilitate the purchase of a half-stake in its management platform alongside an unlisted fund in a $45 million deal. 

Investa's board recommended shareholders support the joint venture plan because it would provide "greater alignment" between the platform's and listed fund's objectives.

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Industry superannuation fund-backed property manager ISPT is in talks to buy a half-share in National Australia Bank's new $800 million home in Melbourne.

Street Talk understands ISPT has been offered a share in the new NAB tower at 405 Bourke Street by Canadian giant Brookfield Property Partners, the developer of the tower which is due to be completed in 2021. 

NAB could occupy almost all of the new tower, which will have 29 levels of office space, comprising 66,000 square metres.

Sources said discussions were already underway and ISPT had an important bargaining chip in its back pocket. 

The funds manager owns NAB's existing premises just up the road at 500 Bourke Street where the bank's tenancy expires in 2020.

With Brookfield now racing to complete the new tower, having ISPT in the ownership syndicate for the new property would help in discussions with its incoming tenant. 

ISPT and Brookfield are already well-known to each. The industry funds powerhouse was a keen bidder on Brookfield's $1.8 billion office and retail development above Sydney's Wynyard station.

Showing admirable restraint, ISPT left the room as bidding sharpened the investment yield on the landmark Sydney project to around 4.5 per cent. AMP Capital and EG Funds Management are the frontrunners for the Wynyard development now. 

That's not to say getting in on the ground floor in Melbourne will be much cheaper. Already many in the market are tipping yields on prime towers in the southerly city will tighten to under 5 per cent this year.

 

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With budget season upon us, investment bankers are trawling through volumes of state and federal budget papers to find deal ideas for the next couple of years. 

The biggest talking point so far is Victoria's decision to consider selling its land titles office, which is expected to be worth about $2 billion depending on the concession structure and length. 

While the move made headlines a week ago, there is little detail in the actual budget papers. All Victoria said it would examine options to commercialise the land titles registry function and commission a detailed scoping study. 

It's understood Victoria'sDepartment of Treasury and Finance has told bankers that it is seeking to have the scoping study done by the end of the calendar year, and consider the findings in time for the 2017/18 budget. 

But with a state election due in November next year, it remains to be seen whether the existing government will have a chance to get its hands on the $2 billion. 

Of course the move mirrors a similar play in New South Wales, where NSW netted $2.6 billion. That deal took about three years to come together, with a scoping study commissioned before significant separation work prior to the sale. 

JPMorgan did the NSW deal and would be a lead contender to work for Victoria, along with Port of Melbourne sale advisers Morgan Stanley and Flagstaff Partners.

Bankers expect a request for proposal in the coming months. 

It also comes as bidders prepare offers for South Australia's land titles unit. Bids are due next month. 

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