Restructuring still faces pitfalls, writes Jim Jones. Just how heavily the dice are loaded against bank assurance group Old Mutual’s pulling itself quickly out of the mess left by its misguided acquisitions and expansions of the past few years became more apparent with this past week’s release of the first quarter’s interim management statement.

The new chief executive of Old Mutual, Julian Roberts recently said that the current financial predicament holds no real threat for the Old Mutual group, because of its sturdy capital base even with the subprime crisis connected to it via its US life business.   The new boss of Old Mutual can only describe his [...]

Old Mutual must review its complex structure and consider selling assets including its U.S. life insurance unit if it is to revive its shares and answer concerns over its strategy after embarrassing U.S. losses. Old Mutual has long traded at one of the lowest multiples in the European sector, partly due to its exposure to [...]