Financial Services Roundup: Market Talkthedigitalchaps

The latest Market Talks covering Financial Services. Exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

2236 GMT – It seems unlikely that Washington H. Soul Pattinson is about to walk away from its bid for Australian wealth manager Perpetual, says Bell Potter analyst Marcus Barnard in a note. This comes after WHSP increased its “relevant interest” in Perpetual up to 11.66%. BP reckons that WHSP would be putting pressure on Perpetual management and possibly other shareholders to accept their offer, or considering what sort of higher offer might get approval. “With the market cap now A$2.9 billion, WHSP probably needs to increase their offer to have a chance to succeed,” says BP which also sees that with Perpetual now appearing to be “in play” it’s likely there will be further bids. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)