SYDNEY--Australian jobs platform Seek plans to distribute capital to shareholders following the sale of more than US$700 million in assets held by its majority owned growth fund, Chief Executive Ian Narev said.

Seek on Wednesday said that managers of the growth fund in which it holds a near 84% stake, intend to sell assets worth more than 1 billion Australian dollars, equivalent to US$706.2 million. The company expects those plans to be finalized by the end of December.

While the fund will reinvest in new opportunities, ASX-listed Seek intends to hand over some of its proceeds to shareholders, Narev said in an interview.

"The No. 1 goal of the fund is to create long-term value in the interest of all investors, including us," Narev said.

"We and our investors want some money back and the realization of assets, if they occur like this, will absolutely lead to returns."

Narev said the mechanism for capital returns would depend upon the size of the proceeds.

Seek split its investments arm from its core classifieds business in 2021. Narev, the former Commonwealth Bank chief executive, replaced founder Andrew Bassat at Seek, allowing Bassat to concentrate on the growth fund.

Seek's share of the fund at June 30 was valued at A$1.66 billion. With global markets roiled by interest-rate increases and U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, the value of fund fell 13% over the 12 months through June to A$1.98 billion.

Seek recorded a A$201 million annual loss from its stake, contributing to a statutory loss of A$371.3 million. Seek's underlying profit rose by 28%.

However, that drop in software valuations over the June half also created reinvestment opportunities for the fund, Narev said.

"There are attractive investment opportunities out there," Narev said.

"For Andrew and his team, the nuance they need to think about is the balance between an environment where you create value through sales, and the environment of good investing opportunities."