AMP talking to Horlick rivals

SPECULATION was mounting today that star fund manager Nicola Horlick's plans for a future life Down Under were unravelling.

Australian financial services group AMP said it was yet to finalise her employment terms and that it was talking to rival candidates.

Horlick's deal to manage about £30bn of funds was thought to have been sealed, after she last week told the London Evening Standard of her plans for a future in Sydney.

But today, after weekend reports in London that she would not be taking the job, AMP would only say: 'Discussions continue with Mrs Horlick, but a contract is yet to be signed.'

A spokesman for AMP in Sydney also said the firm was talking to a number of people about the role at the head of AMP Capital Investors - the former AMP Henderson Asset Management.

Horlick, nicknamed 'Superwoman' for her ability to juggle a high-powered City career while bringing up a young family and nursing her daughter Georgina through a 10-year battle with cancer - which she lost - had said she was looking forward to the challenge.

Last week, she talked of already 'taking the job' and a £340,000 salary plus bonuses.

In the Evening Standard interview she ruled out standing as a Tory MP at the next General Election, although she admitted she had considered it.

The family are thought to have been in Sydney settling into their new home before Horlick was apparently due to start at AMP in the New Year.