Aberdeen Asset Management has acquired Advance Emerging Capital.
London-based AEC is a specialist investment manager which handles portfolios of mostly closed end, but also open end, fund-of-fund vehicles. It’s been around for 20 years and manages around £409 million across a range of investment funds. Its two largest vehicles are the Advance Developing Markets Fund Limited and the Advance Frontier Markets Fund, both of which are closed end. Following this latest deal, Aberdeen will manage 33 closed end funds with aggregate assets under management of over £8.5 billion.
A statement from Aberdeen read: “The AEC team includes four investment professionals with over 50 years of combined investment experience. They will be based in Aberdeen’s London office and will be part of the Group’s Alternatives business which is led by Andrew McCaffery. This step will provide the opportunity to expand the offering globally, across a wider range of additional strategies within the fund of closed end funds sector, when combined with the broader Aberdeen Alternatives capability. The team will be independent of Aberdeen’s direct equity and fixed income teams. In line with Aberdeen’s fee policy, the AEC funds will not be double-charged on any Aberdeen funds held in the portfolios.”
Aberdeen also announced that it had also just completed the acquisition of FLAG Capital Management, a diversified private markets manager, and the purchase of SVG Capital’s stake in the joint venture Aberdeen SVG Private Equity Managers. And it has entered into an agreement to acquire Arden Asset Management LLC, a specialist hedge fund manager and adviser.
Aberdeen says that the latest round of deals are part of its strategy to strengthen its alternatives capabilities, which are aimed at meeting the growing demand from investors that are looking to diversify their portfolios.
CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management 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.”
Co-Chief Investment Officer of Advance Emerging Capital Andrew Lister said: “Aberdeen is an investment house we have immense respect for, and with which we share a similar investment philosophy and appreciation of the benefits of the closed end fund structure. We are therefore delighted to be joining them, where we will 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. 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.”
