The new Scottish firm says that the merger will harness Standard Life’s and Aberdeen’s complementary investment and savings capabilities and by combining the two companies’ balance sheets, the combined group will have greater ability to invest for growth and innovation.
The group’s investment business, Aberdeen Standard Investments, manages £583 billion of assets. This newly-combined business will retain a long standing commitment to active investment management. It immediately becomes one of the largest active managers in Europe, says Standard Life Aberdeen. It will have over 1,000 investment professionals based around the world.
The group’s pensions and savings business, Standard Life, has about 4.5 million customers and is based primarily in the UK, with operations in Ireland and Germany.
The deal between the two companies, now know as Standard Life Aberdeen, was first announced on 6 March 2017.
Standard Life Aberdeen will have offices in 50 cities around the world, servicing clients in 80 countries. It has a market cap of over £11 billion.
Keith Skeoch, joined chief executive of Standard Life Aberdeen, said: “Today marks the culmination of many months of hard work and preparation by our business, and the beginning of a new chapter in our history as Standard Life Aberdeen plc. Our leadership team is in place and we have full business readiness from day one.
“Our people have worked exceptionally well together to complete the merger on schedule and we would like to thank them for this. The co-operation and collaboration we have witnessed bodes well for the on-going integration of the business, and in helping us create a world-class investment company for our clients, shareholders and our people.”
Martin Gilbert, joint chief executive of Standard Life Aberdeen, and founder of Aberdeen Asset Management, added: “As ever our priority remains the delivery of strong investment performance and the highest level of client service. The merger deepens and broadens our investment capabilities, and gives us a stronger and more diverse range of investment management skills as well as significant scale across asset classes and geographies. We believe this will enable us to deliver an even better proposition and service to our enlarged client base.”