AMP CEO Andrew Mohl has another pressing issue to consider: the arrival on the scene of a consortium of venture capitalists led by US-based takeover experts Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), with their eyes on AMP’s ailing British assets.

KKR gained notoriety in 1989 when it engineered a $47 billion takeover of RJR Nabisco, and also bought No 3 insurance broker Willis in 1998 for $2.5 billion. It’s understood to be working with a British management team. The bid vehicle is called Resolution Partners.

Mr Mohl has admitted that AMP has received several approaches from potential buyers for some of the British assets which have been placed in a spin-off company. But he said no one has yet made a bid for the whole UK company.

A report in the London Times said that returns submitted to the Financial Services Authority by the three AMP-owned life companies London Life, National Provident Life and Pearl, were close to breaching solvency requirements before AMP acted to raise more capital and split off the UK assets.

A noisy AGM, the British takeover rumours and a ratings downgrade have made it a rough couple of weeks for Mr Mohl. Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has lowered AMP Life’s insurer financial strength and credit rating  to A+ from AA-, saying the ratings outlook on AMP Life, AMP Group Holdings and AMP Bank is negative, given uncertainty on the demerger and the uncertain earnings outlook for the group. The rating for the three UK businesses was also lowered and removed from CreditWatch.

S&P Credit Analyst Kate Thomson says the overall negative outlook on the AMP group reflects the uncertainties surrounding its future plans, and the prevailing difficult operating environment for life and funds management companies in Australia and internationally.

“The high proportion of hybrid equity makes the AMP group more sensitive to earnings downgrades,” she said. “If these risks are ameliorated, the ratings outlook could revert to stable from negative.”

The downgrades follow an overall weakening in the group’s financial strength and announcement of its separation from the Australian business, according to S&P’s.

“Although AMP’s capital raising and equity sale initiatives will improve group capitalisation, the positive impact of these initiatives only partially offsets the diminution in group capital strength up to AMP’s May 1 announcement,” Ms Thomson said. “AMP group’s underlying earnings have been dampened by a difficult operating environment, and… a material level of writedowns in the past six months.”