The asset manager has bought a 50.1% share in private equity firm SVGA Advisors, and has reached a buyout agreement worth around $175m for Artio Global Investors, a global asset management holding company.
SVGA Advisors, which has approximately £4bn in AUM and assets under advice, will be combined with Aberdeen’s existing private equity arm to create a fund of funds business. The new business, which will have around £5bn in AUM, will be called Aberdeen SVG Private Equity and will be led by Lynn Fordham, chief executive of SVGA.
Aberdeen has the option to acquire, and SVGC the option to sell, the remaining 49.9% three years from the completion date.
The acquisition of Artio Global Investors, meanwhile, is due to be completed at the end of Q2 or the start of Q3. As of December 2012 the firm had a net asset value of $141m, and seed investments of $136m.
Aberdeen stated that it would transfer more than $14bn of assets under management from Artio, which includes $9.8bn in high yield and total return bond strategies and $4.5bn in its global equities business.
There has been speculation surrounding potential acquisitions for Aberdeen, which was reported to have looked into buying Ignis from Pheonix Group last year before rejecting such a move.
