FOR the 1,700 staff at Skandia in Southampton, the past few months have been a tad unsettling in the face of a global corporate battle.

It was back in the early summer that Old Mutual, the London-listed South African financial services group, made a genuine play for the Skandia group, including the £1 billion UK subsidiary headquartered in the city.

There had been other pretenders but Old Mutual meant business - and it pursued its prey with dogged determination.

The £3.4 billion bid went hostile after Skandia's parent company in Sweden, claiming the price tag was simply too low, dug in its heels as a stand-alone operation.

However, earlier this week the uncertainty was lifted when Old Mutual won control of Skandia after putting the contest to the vote.

It received a majority of acceptances representing 64 per cent of Skandia shareholders.

With the African company now effectively on the throne, the staff at Skandia must be wondering what that means to them. According to industry experts, probably not a lot.

For the 21-year-old operation in Southampton is Old Mutual's golden goose in the UK. The alluring Skandia brand name is being retained in Europe, and it may be a case of arm's length management by Old Mutual.

Under the guidance of Alan Wilson and Nick Poyntz-Wright, Skandia UK has one million policyholders and tens of thousands of independent financial advisors selling its life, pension and investment products.

In the last financial year Southampton racked up £160m profit and saw managed assets balloon to a mind-blowing £25 billion.

As reported yesterday, Poyntz-Wright's team continued to grow business this year, and Old Mutual must be licking its lips in anticipation as the cash pours in.

Old Mutual previously had only three per cent of funds in the UK, so the acquisition of Skandia sees it become a major competitor overnight in Britain's cut-throat financial services sector.

Ironically, staff in Southampton may find their future is safer with Old Mutual, which expects to close the deal by the middle of next month.

As the Daily Echo revealed in September, Sweden had secretly tasked Southampton with making savings of £14m, which would have put jobs at risk.

Fiercely loyal to his staff, that controversial plan was strongly opposed by Poyntz-Wright, leading to a rare boardroom split in Stockholm.

Meanwhile, senior management at Stockholm continue to insist a hard core of shareholders are unhappy about the Old Mutual offer.

Analysts fear the benefits of "synergy" between the two companies will become harder to achieve if Skandia resists.

However, at the same time Skandia won't have a strong mandate to make influential decisions on the Old Mutual board.

A Skandia spokesman said: "Skandia's board and management will now engage in discussions with Old Mutual over how they wish to proceed and what the co-operation between the two companies should be going forward."

It is against these differences of corporate opinion, with bankers and lawyers having a field day, that 1,700 people in Southampton must now work.

However, as Old Mutual's group finance director Julian Roberts told the Daily Echo: "It's business as usual at Southampton".