Investment trust providers look set to be big winners from the deal as well. The Association of Investment Companies wasted no time at all in offering a public approval of the deal, for good reason.
Aegon has committed itself to making invest companies available on the platform once it takes the reins, something that eluded the AIC and its members until now, costing them large numbers of potential investors and giving open-ended funds a clear advantage.
AIC chief executive Ian Sayers said: “It’s great news that advisers using the UK’s biggest platform will be able to access investment companies following the acquisition of Cofunds by Aegon. This is another important step towards investment companies gaining their deserved place in the portfolios of advisers’ clients. Investment companies can now be accessed on the vast majority of adviser platforms, a significant change from the situation just a few years ago,” he added.
So time will tell as always, but it is hard to see how this can be messed up.
