Australian financial services group Macquarie is said to be selling its private equity funds management division in a management buyout, as per a report in The Australian Financial Review citing sources. The Sydney-headquartered firm is one of Australia’s largest and oldest private equity investor and has $5 billion in assets under management across Asia.
The report said Macquarie Investment Management Private Markets will be sold to its current management team, including Michael Lukin, Andrew Savage and Shaw Ng. The unit will be renamed ROC Equity Partners and the information was disclosed to its clients or limited partners (LPs) early this week, the report added.
The rumoured move would be in line with similar decisions by various global banks, including HSBC, Citigroup and Credit Suisse, to spin off their PE arms in the past.
Macquarie has a host of alternative assets management businesses, mostly chasing infrastructure investments. As per its website, the company is present in 28 countries and has $359 billion under management globally.
It is not clear if the group’s move will also have an impact on the infrastructure funds business of the firm.
In India, Macquarie has two fund management joint ventures with SBI and IFC. Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF) is an unlisted private equity style infrastructure fund with approximately $910 million of committed capital. It is managed by Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Management Pte Limited (MSIMPL), a joint venture between Macquarie, SBI and IFC.
SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Trust (SMIT) is an unlisted private equity style infrastructure fund with approximately $260 million of committed capital. This fund also invests in infrastructure and related assets in India. SMIT is managed by SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Management Pte Limited (SMIMPL), which is a separate joint venture between Macquarie, SBI and IFC.
MSIF and SMIT may choose to co-invest in opportunities that fall within both of their investment mandates.
MSIF in particular has previously invested in firms like Trichy Tollway, GMR Jadcherla Expressways, Ashoka Concessions, Soham Renewable Energy, MB Power Madhya Pradesh, GMR Airports, Viom Networks and Adhunik Power and Natural Resources.
Macquarie, through another investment entity, has previously invested in firms like visual entertainment services company Prime Focus, Hathway Cable and Datacom, PTC India Financial Services, Aeroflex, Bharti Infratel and Sical Logistics.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)