Commonwealth Bank of Australia to buy local wealth manager

SYDNEY: Commonwealth bank of Australia has agreed to buy Count Financial for an equity value of A$373 million ($396.6 million), targeting the $1.3 trillion Australian wealth management market, which is the one of the few growing areas of the financial sector.

CBA, which runs top fund manager Colonial First State, will pay A$1.40 a share to Count, representing a 32 percent premium to Monday's close. Count shareholders will also get the announced A$0.04 dividend, it said.

The acquisition would increase CBA's number of advisers to more than 1,850 from 1,220, ranking it second by total number of advisers in the country, CBA said.

Copyright Reuters, 2011