NAB's divestment of non-core businesses continued yesterday, with the announcement that senior management in NAB's asset consulting business, JANA, will buy 55 per cent of the operation. NAB Asset Management executive general manager, Garry Mulcahy, and JANA chief executive officer, Jim Lamborn, were on message together, characterising the deal as marking an important evolution for both NAB Asset Management and JANA."The new management ownership structure model will give us greater flexibility to respond to the opportunities and challenges in the marketplace, and importantly will establish greater economic alignment between our clients and employees," Lamborn said.JANA, with funds under advice of more than $350 billion as at 30 June 2017, is one of Australia's four biggest asset consultants, alongside Frontier, Willis Towers Watson and Mercer. JANA will retain its close advisory ties with NAB AM, while being freed up to seek other clients.NAB Asset Management has more than 100 employees and $200 billion in funds under management, and "was focussed on being a leading global asset management business"."NAB Asset Management looks forward to partnering with JANA to leverage our complementary capabilities in providing investment advice and portfolio management solutions to our diverse clients," Mulcahy said.The proposed transaction is expected to be completed in September 2017. The sale price was not disclosed in the announcement by NAB yesterday.