OLD Mutual, South Africa’s largest life and pensions group, may spend up to 1,5-billion on new acquisitions in the United States and Britain, the company was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Old Mutual chief executive Jim Sutcliffe told Business Day newspaper that the group, which recently acquired UK broker and fund manager Gerrard Group for 525-million, may borrow money to hit the acquisition trail again. “We are a five billion pound company with no gearing — we could easily do 1,5-billion,” the paper quoted him as saying. Old Mutual declined to comment on the report.