⁍ AMP Ltd AMP.AX said on Friday U.S.-based Ares Management Corp ARES.N had made a non-binding offer to buy the troubled Australian wealth manager.

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⁍ AMP shares surged 21.5% in early trade to A$1.555, their highest level since early September.

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⁍ The wealth manager’s shares have lost over two-thirds of their value since a public inquiry in 2018 exposed systemic wrongdoing.

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– Troubled Australian wealth manager AMP is in talks to be taken over by US private equity firm Ares Management, sources tell Australia’s ABC News and the Sydney Morning Herald. The sources say Ares offered about $5 billion for the company, which has been beset by scandal in recent years. AMP shares jumped 22% in early trade on the news, their highest level since early September, reports Reuters. The company’s shares have lost more than two-thirds of their value since a public inquiry in 2018 exposed systemic wrongdoing at the company, including charging fees for advice that was never given, taking insurance premiums from the accounts of dead clients, and misleading a regulator. The revelations led to the exit of its chairwoman and CEO, and it lost another chairman this year over its handling of an employee misconduct complaint. clients have fled the company, with net cash outflows of about A$2.4 billion from its flagship fund management arm in the third quarter. AMP sparked talk of a buyout or break-up in early September when it put all its assets under review. On Friday it said it had received ‘significant’ interest in its assets and was evaluating a range of options, including sticking to its own three-year turnaround plan.