Morgan stanley said to plan sale of Quilter to Bridgepoint

Morgan Stanley is in talks to sell U.K. wealth manager Quilter Holdings Ltd. to buyout firm Bridgepoint Capital Ltd., two people with knowledge of the plan said.

An announcement is likely to be made this week, one of the people said, declining to be identified as the transaction has yet to be completed. Quilter has about 7.6 billion pounds ($11.8 billion) of funds under management and targets charities, trusts, private clients and pension funds, according to its website.

Spokesmen for London-based Bridgepoint, Morgan Stanley and Quilter declined to comment today. Sky News reported earlier that Bridgepoint may beat competition from Permira Advisers LLP to get control of Quilter for approximately 180 million pounds. A spokesman for Permira wasn’t immediately available to comment.

Quilter is owned by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, the brokerage joint venture between the New York-based firm and Citigroup Inc. Morgan Stanley, the sixth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, bought control of the venture in 2009. Morgan Stanley is seeking to sell the unit because the bank plans to focus on so- called ultra-high-net-worth clients in wealth management, one of the people said.