WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S. — Bunge Ltd. is seeking to shut its asset management business in a push to improve returns, The Financial Times reported on April 7.

The bulk of the business is Climate Change Capital, a London, England-based sustainable asset manager bought for $9 million in 2012. Bunge will continue to seek outside partners to invest in its own industrial footprint, which includes silos, ports and mills, the Financial Times reported.

Bunge told the Financial Times that it "has decided to significantly scale down our global asset management business. We aim to close all our regulated activities when the right opportunity presents itself," it said.

Climate Change Capital managed $148.4 million in assets last month, according to a U.S. securities filing signed March 16. It supported environmental projects such as tree planting and fixing leaky natural gas pipelines, according to its website.

On March 6, Climate Change Capital said it was spinning out a private equity group that managed a €200 million fund that invests in "resource efficiency" in Europe. Last July, its UK sustainable commercial property fund moved to Impax Asset Management.

Soren Schroder, Bunge chief executive, has reassessed some Bunge businesses since taking over in 2013. The company is also reviewing options for its Brazilian sugar mills after disappointing performance, the Financial Times said.