River and Mercantile (R&M) Group, the listed fund manager, is plotting the sale of one of its core divisions in a move that amounts to a partial break-up of the company.

Sky News has learnt that the company has appointed Fenchurch Advisory and Lazard to field bids for its fiduciary arm, which manages billions of pounds for pension funds.

The sale process has been underway for several weeks, according to City sources.

R&M’s fiduciary arm – which it operates under the name Solutions – had nearly £43bn of assets under management at the end of June.

The group is understood to have decided to focus on faster-growing and more profitable businesses, with an auction of the Solutions unit expected to conclude later this year.

The auction is the first big move made by R&M since the fund management veteran Martin Gilbert joined its board in January.

A small stake in the company is held by AssetCo, which has been adopted by Mr Gilbert as his principal vehicle for building a new asset management group.

Earlier this year, R&M poached a senior executive from Abrdn, the group that Mr Gilbert helped to create, to join its board.

One insider said that R&M could issue an update to investors as soon as Tuesday to confirm the prospective sale of its fiduciary arm.

A spokeswoman for R&M declined to comment.

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