Dec 17 (Reuters) - Perpetual on Tuesday said

the independent expert of the firm has opined that the asset

manager's plan to sell wealth management and corporate trust

business to KKR would not serve best interest of

investors after tax bill blowout.

The company's A$2.2 billion ($1.40 billion) deal with the

buyout giant is at risk of falling after the firm was given a

tax bill which was way higher than its estimate and revealed

higher liabilities and lower shareholder returns.

($1 = 1.5711 Australian dollars)