AMP Limited has agreed to sell its money management arm's global equities and fixed-income business to Macquarie Asset Management for up to A$185 million ($140 million), the two companies announced Thursday.
The sale of AMP Capital's roughly A$60 billion GEFI business, expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, is the first leg of a planned restructuring of the money manager's broader business.
Those plans call for the transfer of AMP Capital's more than A$60 billion multiasset group business to its retail business AMP Australia, followed by a demerger and listing of the firm's roughly A$60 billion private markets business.
"The sale delivers on AMP Capital's strategy to focus on high-growth opportunities in private markets across real estate, infrastructure and associated adjacencies, and is an important step in preparing the business for its planned demerger from AMP Limited" in the first half of 2022, according to an AMP news release.
The A$60 billion GEFI business will boost Macquarie Asset Management's assets under management to roughly A$720 billion, cementing the firm's position as Australia's leading investment manager by AUM, Ben Way, head of Macquarie Asset Management, noted in a separate news release.
The agreement calls for a base payment of up to A$110 million on completion of the deal, with a cash earn-out of up to A$75 million to be paid on the transaction's second anniversary, with the amount to be determined by conditions such as revenue targets.
In March, Fiera Capital agreed to acquire AMP Capital's $500 million global companies unit, including a UCITS platform and the AMP Capital Global Companies fund in Australia and New Zealand.
