Ironbark Asset Management, a Sydney-based manager of managers, has acquired the management rights and licenses of Deutsche Australia Ltd.'s retail funds.
An Ironbark news release said the firm acquired Deutsche Asset Management (Australia) Ltd., the entity where those management rights and licenses resided.
In a telephone interview, Ironbark CEO Chris Larsen said the investment teams of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management will serve as subadvisers of the eight funds, which have combined assets of more than A$1.5 billion. (US$1.38 billion).
Terms of the deal, which brings Ironbark's assets under management to roughly A$3.1 billion, weren't disclosed.
Mr. Larsen said Ironbark designs investment solutions for financial advisers and other investors, managing the product wrapper, and appointing and monitoring the investment managers. “This acquisition takes us further down that path, and in fact we are looking for more acquisition opportunities that fit under that strategy,” Mr. Larsen said in an e-mail.
With the sale, Deutsche's “existing investment management capabilities and the institutional asset management business of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management in Australia now operate under the Deutsche Australia Ltd. license,” a Deutsche Bank spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail.
The firm “continues to manage money on behalf of institutional and wholesale investors,” she said.