Matt Comyn's breakneck project of shrinking Australia's largest company back to greatness took a A$4 billion leap forward yesterday with the sale of Commonwealth Bank's global asset management business.Japanese banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ (MUTB) has agreed to pay $4.13 billion for Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which manages more than $213 billion of investment assets outside of Australia.CBA announced its intention to offload the subsidiary in June when Comyn unveiled his business simplification strategy for the group.Soon after Comyn's June announcement the bank was approached by MUTB to begin strategic talks.The sale is expected to be complete by the middle of next year and is likely to add $2.9 billion to CBA's Common Equity Tier 1 capital.On a pro-forma basis the transaction will boost the bank's CET 1 ratio to 11.3 per cent from the current level of 10.7 per cent.That is well above APRA's new regulatory capital benchmark of 10.5 per cent.In the last six months the group has negotiated deals to offload a raft of international businesses valued at more than $10 billion.Last week the bank announced it agreed to sell its Indonesian life insurance arm to Hong Kong-based investment house, Pacific Century Group.If all of the sales now awaiting regulatory approvals are finalised by June next year, CBA could find itself sitting on surplus capital of more than $6 billion.Investment analysts are already spruiking the prospects of a capital return to shareholders either through a special dividend or a stock repurchase program."While we do not take a view on the likelihood of the CFSGAM dealclosing, today's announcement may provide greater clarity for investors around the potential impact on capital from this part of CBA's asset sale program," Goldman Sachs analyst Andrew Lyons told clients in a report."It may also provide an opportunity for CBA to potentially release a component of its $1.5 billion of surplus franking credits."CBA hinted that it would consider a capital return in a statement it filed to the ASX."The group reviews its capital management strategy on an ongoing basis and intends to update shareholders further following the completion of its announced divestments," the company told the ASX.Meanwhile, Comyn moved swiftly to reassure staff at CFSGAM that the subsidiary's prospective owner would bring steady hands to business.MUTB is one of the largest asset managers in Japan, with a long history and deep capabilities," he said."We believe that CFSGAM's clients and employees will benefit from MUTB's supportive long-term ownership."The sale price represents a multiple of 17.5 times 2018 net earnings - a handsome premium given that ASX-listed asset managers such as Perpetual are currently fetching valuations at only 12 times annual profit.It is much less likely that CBA will be able to secure similar premiums for a raft of domestic businesses that it has also put up for sale.Regulatory risk is weighing heavily on businesses such as Aussie Home Loans, Financial Wisdom and the local operations of Colonial First State.There little doubt that the future purchasers of these assets will be seeking undertakings from