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Santander in talks about swoop on £14bn abrdn private equity unit
The Spanish banking giant is among a small number of suitors interested in buying the unit of abrdn which holds investments in private equity funds, Sky News learns.
Mark Kleinman
City editor @MarkKleinmanSky
Friday 17 February 2023 12:51, UK
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An arm of Santander, the Spanish banking giant, is in talks to swoop on the £14bn private equity unit of abrdn, the British fund manager.
Sky News has learnt that Santander Asset Management is one of a small number of parties vying to buy the business from abrdn.
Sources said a deal was expected to be struck between abrdn and a buyer in the next couple of months that could value the division at approximately £250m.
At least one other party has been in discussions in recent weeks, although a source close to Fidelity International denied a suggestion that it was considering a deal.
The division being sold by abrdn manages investments in private equity funds and is a legacy of Standard Life Investments, whose parent company merged with Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.
Under current chief executive Stephen Bird, abrdn has attempted to reshape itself, shedding non-core assets and spending £1.5bn on the acquisition of Interactive Investor, the retail platform.
Mr Bird will later this month unveil abrdn’s full-year results, with City analysts pencilling in a consensus pre-tax profit forecast of £228m.
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Assets under management are expected to have fallen to £502bn.
On Friday, shares in abrdn were trading at about 213p, giving the company a market capitalisation of £4.3bn.
Abrdn and Santander declined to comment.
