Dealer group Godfrey Pembroke Limited (GPL) has sold down a majority stake in its unlisted property trust venture, Abacus Funds Management Limited.
The deal has led to a group comprising GPL director David Bastian and another three investors taking up a controlling stake in the property funds manager and syndicator.
GPL will retain a “strategic 20 per cent interest” in Abacus, according to the group’s managing director Ian Showman.
“Abacus is no longer a subsidiary (of GPL) as we’ve sold a 50 per cent share in the business,” Showman says.
“That means we recognise that our core business is in distribution and master trust operations, though we will retain a strategic interest (in Abacus)”.
Bastian, the former managing director of Pembroke Financial Planners Limited, currently retains a seat on the GPL board.
He says Abacus, which manages a number of unlisted property trusts and around $250 million in property syndication deals, will look to enhance its unique product base and market its products beyond the Godfrey Pembroke distribution base.
