LONDON (Alliance News) - Standard Life Aberdeen PLC said Friday it has taken on the discretionary management of certain investment portfolios ahead of acquiring a 50% stake in CYBG PLC's Virgin Money's investment arm.
The joint venture is expected to clear regulatory approval by the third quarter.
The new mandates taken on by the company's asset manager, Aberdeen Standard Investments, increased its assets under management by about GBP3.5 billion.
At December 31, Standard Life Aberdeen's funds under management stood at GBP551.5 billion.
The deal for a stake in Virgin Money Unit Trust Managers Ltd will see Aberdeen Standard services being offered to all CYBG customers, not just Virgin Money account holders.
Standard Life Aberdeen also noted that the new mandates required the company acquire 663,082 shares in UK Commercial Property REIT Ltd, which represents about 0.05% of the real estate investment trust's issued share capital.
Aberdeen Standard Investments is the manager of UK Commercial Property REIT. As such, the UK Takeover Panel believed Standard Life Aberdeen to be acting in concert with other parties, meaning it was interested in 47% of UK Commercial Property REIT.
Standard Life Aberdeen has since informed the Takeover Panel it is not acting in concert with other parties and will, therefore, not be required to make an offer for UK Commercial Property REIT's entire issued share capital.
Shares in Standard Life Aberdeen closed down 3.2% Friday at 259.50 pence each. UK Commercial Property REIT ended down 0.2% at 86.30p. CYBG closed the session down 2.4% at 189.30p.