Praemium International has moved closer to the sale of its business in an update to the Australian Stock Exchange. 

"This was an interesting decision for us to take," Praemium CEO Anthony Wamsteker said in his update to the ASX.

"On the one hand, the international business is performing brilliantly. Having committed to the international market for many years, the people currently leading that part of our business have really started to achieve the type of success that we always hoped to achieve.

"On the other hand, however, it still has a very small market share internationally - even smaller than what we regard as a sub-scale market share in our home market here in Australia. On balance, we decided to stop chasing two enormous opportunities and focus on one - and the one at home won out."

Praemium UK & International managing director Mark Sanderson said: "Our Melbourne-based parent company announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that the sale sought for its combined operations in the UK, Jersey, Dubai and Hong Kong had entered the next, and hopefully final, stage."

He added: "The focus throughout has been on finding a potential new owner that is the right fit for us and the right fit for our clients. I am pleased to say that we are currently negotiating a legal agreement and business separation terms.

"I can't divulge any more details at this stage, except to say that we would not have entered this phase of the process unless we were relatively confident that acceptable terms would ultimately be reached. It should be noted that there is no certainty that the sale process will result in a binding transaction."