Lincoln Financial Group is selling Delaware Investments, its asset management unit, to an Australian firm for $428 million.

The Philadelphia, Pa.-based company is selling Delaware Management Holdings and its subsidiaries, Delaware Investments, to Macquarie Group, a Sydney-based global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services. The transaction is expected to be completed, pending regulatory approval, by the end of this year.

Dennis R. Glass

“We believe the greatest opportunities for growth and differentiation for Lincoln Financial going forward are centered on our principal insurance and retirement businesses,” said Dennis R. Glass, president and CEO of Lincoln Financial Group, in a statement. “This transaction will allow us to focus both management and capital resources on these core businesses.”

Delaware Investments will continue managing Lincoln Financial general account insurance assets under a long-term contract, and it will provide additional sub-advisory services.

Glass said Lincoln Financial will continue “our strategic relationship with the Delaware Investments team as it becomes a key part of Macquarie’s global asset management platform.”

By close, Lincoln Financial expects that its distribution team for Delaware Investments’ funds and separately managed accounts will move from its wholesale distribution arm, Lincoln Financial Distributors, to Delaware Investments, it said in a statement.