Aberdeen and Standard Life complete merger

The merger of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life has been completed, forming one of the world’s largest investment companies with assets under administration of £670 billion, Standard Life Aberdeen.

Following the merger, the combined entity’s investment business, Aberdeen Standard Investments, will manage £583 billion. It will have a strong focus on active investment management, covering developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, multi-asset, real estate and alternatives solutions, with over 1,000 investment professionals based around the world. Standard Life, the group’s pension and savings business, has around 4.5 million customers, mainly based in the UK, with operations in Ireland and Germany.

Standard Life Aberdeen has Keith Skeoch and Martin Gilbert as co-CEOs. Skeoch commented on the merger: “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.” Gilbert said: “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.”