Gilbert sells almost £5.7m of shares as Aberdeen eyes new acquisition

Aberdeen Asset Management chief executive Martin Gilbert has sold almost £5.7 million of shares in a week that the firm’s full year results showed assets under management had shrunk by 13 per cent from £324.4bn in 2014 to £283.7bn on the back of outflows from the group’s flagship emerging markets equity funds.

The company said the near 1.7 million shares sold by Mr Gilbert were part of his variable pay awards for 2009, 2010 and 2011.

According to a stock market announcement the shares were sold at 314.8p each.

AAM was the top faller in the FTSE 100 Index on Tuesday on the back of its annual results, with the shares sliding 4.6 per cent on the news to 319.4p.

Mr Gilbert was also awarded 856,240 shares as part of his 2015 variable pay.

Those shares are exercisable in five equal tranches over the next five years. Mr Gilbert still has an interest in around 4.35 million shares.

The fund management house also noted long serving executive Hugh Young, who runs Aberdeen’s Asian business and is also the group head of equities, sold £1.68m of shares relating to his pay awards from previous years.

Finance director Bill Rattray, who like Mr Young has been with the group since 1985, sold £1.2m of shares.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged linking Aberdeen with a possible takeover of Rogge Global Partners, a leading bond fund manager, even as its place in London’s blue-chip share index comes under pressure amid multibillion pound outflows.

According to Sky News, Aberdeen is one of three bidders for Rogge, which has been put up for sale by the FTSE-100 financial services group Old Mutual.

If completed, the acquisition of Rogge would add roughly £25bn to Aberdeen’s assets under management.

A deal would continue Aberdeen’s diversification and strengthen its position in fixed income management, while reflecting its determination to continue with its strategy of pursuing bolt-on acquisitions in selected areas.

The impetus to diversify has grown as investors have retreated from emerging markets, since global equities, emerging market equities and Asia-Pacific equities account for more than half of Aberdeen’s revenues.

The exact value of Rogge is unclear, although it would be well below the threshold that would be considered a material acquisition for a company of the size of Aberdeen.

A person close to Aberdeen said that Rogge was one of a number of deals being examined by the group, and that there was no certainty that it would win the auction.

Evercore, the investment bank which is handling the sale on behalf of Old Mutual, has told interested parties that it intends to choose a preferred bidder in the near future.