Glebe put up for sale

GlebeAsset Management is to be sold off by its owner, the Anglican Church of Australia.

Money Management has learnt that the ethical investment manager with $568 million in funds under management will be put up for sale in the coming weeks.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which is advising parent company the Glebe Administration Board (GAB) on the process of the sale, said there were currently no prospective buyers for the Sydney-based fund manager.

GAB said the planned sale was “part of a program of restructuring its investment operations to more closely reflect the needs of the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church over the next five to 10 years”.

A spokesperson for PWC said compliance costs brought on by increasing regulation in the funds management industry also contributed to the decision to sell.

“One area of the new financial services landscape which has had an impact on smaller manufacturers has been the introduction of Financial Services Reform and the accompanying increase in compliance costs, particularly when offering retail schemes,” the spokesman said.

GAB said a smaller funds management structure would continue to operate within the church after the sale, but will only cater “to the church family”.

GAB and PWC did not comment on whether the four analysts who run Glebe Asset Management’s (GAM) Australian large cap equities and small cap funds had been asked to stand down.

PWC said it was too early in the sales process to detail exactly how GAM would be sold, adding that it could take months for suitable offers to be settled.