Schroders is closing its Australian private-debt business, citing intense competition for fund raising and sourcing investments.
The Australian private debt market is an increasingly competitive space, Schroders Australia CEO and CIO Simon Doyle said in an emailed statement. “As we look to focus our business and build scale globally, we believe the efforts of our private assets team are better directed towards other areas.”
The Australian unit of the U.K.-based bank will continue to focus on direct real estate lending, alternative credit, asset-backed finance and private equity, he said.
Schroders is managing less than A$100 million ($63 million) of private-debt assets in Australia, according to the company. Staff working in the area such as Nicole Kidd, head of private debt for Asia Pacific, and Tim Hallam, a portfolio manager, have remained with the firm.
Schroders has a separate joint venture in Australia with family office RF Group to provide real estate credit in the country. The lender, known as Schroders RF, won’t be affected by the changes.
Schroders had about £777.4 billion ($1.04 trillion) in assets under management as of Sept. 30.
