The constant criticism of Old Mutual is that it is fiendishly difficult to analyse as there are too many moving parts.

Since it listed in July 1999 its share price has substantially underperformed Sanlam, which listed eight months earlier.

It certainly paid some hefty school fees with its international strategy. It acquired three large private client stockbrokers in the UK, which became Gerrard, for a high price.

In mid-2000 it paid a top of the market price for United Asset Management in the US. The insular Capetonians who ran Old Mutual seemed like babes in the wood on the international stage.

It was only with the arrival of Jim Sutcliffe, a South African who was schooled by Prudential in Canada, the US and the UK, that a more rational international strategy was devised.

Gerrard as a private client business did not fit into the business model and it was sold. "The way forward was to become an international savings and wealth management group. And the trend internationally has been both away from Iife wrapped products towards investments, and also away from proprietary products to open architecture," says Sutcliffe. "Regulations in the UK have transformed financial advisers from distributors of financial products to providers of investment solutions. We need to provide the tools for them to do that."

Selestia was set up as Old Mutual's UK open architecture business but it soon became apparent that if it wanted to dominate this space Old Mutual would have to buy the big gorilla in this market, Skandia.

There was a hostile takeover which took seven months to complete. The purchase has led to a dilution of embedded value for the group, and lower margins than it enjoys in SA, but it provides Old Mutual with a great deal more scope for growth than its SA competitors.

The trend towards open architecture products in continental Europe is in its infancy and Old Mutual is in pole position to capture it.