Australian investment group Collimate Capital will be wound down after parent company AMP sold its global infrastructure equity business to US private equity group DigitalBridge for A$699mn (US$497mn).
Collimate Capital was previously AMP Capital and once one of the world’s largest infrastructure managers.
The announced sale, which is subject to regulatory approvals, comes a day after AMP announced it would sell Collimate’s domestic infrastructure and property investment business to Australian real estate investor Dexus for A$462mn. AMP Capital’s infrastructure debt business was sold to Ares Management in December for A$578mn.
AMP said the business, which was rebranded Collimate Capital earlier in the year in preparation for the company to be spun off, will now be disbanded.
The deal completes a series of sell-offs that have turned AMP from an Australian financial services giant with life insurance and investment management businesses to a mid-cap wealth manager specialising in financial advice, pensions and boutique banking.
AMP has been the subject of a series of scandals in recent years, starting with a royal commission into the financial services sector in 2018 that revealed it had been systematically charging customers for financial advice without providing the service.
Two years later it emerged that AMP Capital chief executive Boe Pahari had been appointed even after a complaint of sexual harassment had been made against him.
Over that four year period, AMP’s share price has lost around 80 per cent of its value.
Collimate’s international equity business has assets under management of A$9bn, while the domestic property and infrastructure business has A$27bn under management.
AMP chief executive Alexis George said: “Post completion of the two sales, AMP Limited will be a more focused entity, concentrated on driving our core banking and retail wealth businesses in Australia and New Zealand, with a core objective of accelerating our strategy and increasing our competitiveness.”
