MACQUARIE Group's biggest agricultural fund may be about to leave the bright city lights behind, with management considering moving the fund and its staff closer to its farms.
It's understood Macquarie's agricultural unit head, Elizabeth O'Leary, may take Macquarie's Paraway Pastoral, which operates the $700 million Macquarie Pastoral Fund, out of the glittering Sydney head office and into the central New South Wales town of Orange.
The move is designed to take Paraway's staff closer to the group's 17 sheep and cattle stations across NSW, Queensland and the Northern Territory. It also comes after Macquarie shifted its cropping farms unit Lawsons Grains team to Albury.
Some sources, though, wonder whether the physical dislocation may be accompanied by a financial dislocation and an exit by the investment bank.
As The Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday, Macquarie has a history in spinning off niche fund managers. It sold private equity fund-of-funds advisory business to the unit's management last March, with the business now rebranded ROC Partners.
Others question how many of the Paraway staff will be happy to leave Sydney behind and take the 255km drive over the Blue Mountains.
The potential move comes as Macquarie Pastoral Fund investors prepare to vote on whether to keep Macquarie's MIRA as the fund's manager. Some investors are believed to be disgruntled due to the fund's performance and a recent scandal involving former employees.