Aberdeen Asset Management buys Advance Emerging Capital

FTSE100-listed Aberdeen Asset Management is to buy investment manager Advance Emerging Capital outright. 

 

The deal for AEC – which currently has £409m assets under management across a range of funds, including the Advance Developing Markets fund and the Advance Frontier Markets fund – is expected to complete during the fourth quarter.  

 

The four-person team will be based in Aberdeen's London office and become part of the larger firms' alternatives business, which is led by Andrew McCaffery.

 

The team will be independent from Aberdeen’s direct equity and fixed income teams. Since AEC invests in a number of Aberdeen vehicles, investors will not be double-charged on these investments in Aberdeen funds.

 

Aberdeen's chief executive Martin Gilbert said: “The acquisition of Advance Emerging Capital brings to Aberdeen a dedicated and highly experienced fund management team, expands further our closed-end fund business and adds to the range of alternative investment capabilities we already offer. AEC investors will benefit from the management team being part of a larger, independent asset manager and the ability to draw on the group’s established distribution and operational expertise in regard to closed end funds.”

 

Nasser Alshawaf, chairman and chief executive of AEC, added: "“The confidence expressed by Aberdeen in AEC is a reflection of the team’s capabilities and competitiveness. As part of Aberdeen, the team will be able to add even more value to investors." 

 

Andrew Lister, co-chief investment officer, said the team would "continue to implement our current strategy and process with significant additional support provided by Aberdeen’s closed end funds team and the operational infrastructure that comes with being part of a FTSE 100 company".

 

He added: "Sitting within Aberdeen’s rapidly growing alternatives business will, we believe, enable us to share ideas and best practice to the benefit of our existing investors.”