Insignia Financial Shares Surge

Shares of Insignia Financial surged over 10% in the final trading minutes on Thursday following reports that Bain Capital is in advanced talks to make a buyout offer for the Australian wealth manager.

Throughout the session, Insignia's shares hovered around A$3.10, but jumped to A$3.40 in the last 10 minutes, marking the stock's highest closing level since late February of the previous year.

Bain Capital, known for acquiring Virgin Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, is collaborating with Bank of America on a potential takeover of the A$2.27 billion (approx. $1.46 billion) financial services firm, according to sources cited by the Australian Financial Review.

As of September, Insignia managed A$319.6 billion in funds under management and administration.

Both Insignia Financial and Bain Capital did not provide immediate comments to Reuters.

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) regular trading period concludes at 4 p.m. Sydney time, followed by a 10-minute pre-closing auction phase where brokers can place, modify, or cancel orders before market close.

(This story has been corrected to include the previously omitted word 'soared' in paragraph 2.)

($1 = 1.5581 Australian dollars)