Aberdeen Group plc

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Wikipedia

Aberdeen Group plc
aberdeen
Formerly
  • SLGC Limited (2005–2006)
  • Standard Life plc (2006–2017)
  • Standard Life Aberdeen plc (2017–2021)[1]
  • abrdn plc (2021–2025)
Company typePublic
LSE: ABDN
FTSE 250 Component
IndustryFinancial services
Founded1825; 200 years ago (1825)
HeadquartersEdinburgh, Scotland, UK
Key people
RevenueDecrease £1,370 million (2024)[2]
Increase £276 million (2024)[2]
Increase £248 million (2024)[2]
AUMIncrease £511.4 billion (2024)[2]
Number of employees
5,000 (2024)[3]
Subsidiaries
Websiteaberdeenplc.com Edit this at Wikidata

Aberdeen Group plc, trading as aberdeen, is a United Kingdom-based investment company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The registered office of the company is at George Street, Edinburgh.[4]

The company changed its trading identity from abrdn to aberdeen on 4 March 2025, and its name from abrdn plc to Aberdeen Group plc on 13 March 2025.[5]

History

The company's registered office, 1 George Street in Edinburgh

In March 2017, Standard Life reached an agreement to merge with Aberdeen Asset Management, in an all-share merger, subject to shareholder approval.[6] The merged company was named Standard Life Aberdeen.[7]

In May 2017, Standard Life acquired the loss-making AXA Portfolio Services for £31 million. This company housed AXA Elevate, the investment platform from Axa. At the time of acquisition the platform held £9.8 billion of client assets, boosting the total level of assets held on Standard Life platforms to £36.4 billion.[8]

In October 2017, it was reported that there had been withdrawals of $10 billion from Standard Life Aberdeen's mutual funds over the prior year.[9]

In February 2018, Standard Life Aberdeen initiated the sale of the Standard Life insurance business to Phoenix for £3.2 billion, marking a transition away from its insurance roots to asset management.[10]

Sir Gerry Grimstone stepped down as chairman on 1 January 2019 and was succeeded by Sir Douglas Flint.[11]

Keith Skeoch stood down as chief executive and was succeeded by Stephen Bird in September 2020.[12]

In September 2020 it initiated the acquisition of a 60% interest in Tritax, one of Europe's leading logistics real estate fund managers.[13]

In April 2021, having sold the Standard Life Insurance business to Phoenix in 2018 and having sold the Standard Life name to Phoenix in 2021,[14] the company rebranded as abrdn.[15] The new brand, pronounced "Aberdeen" and developed by the branding agency Wolff Olins, was criticised as difficult to pronounce.[16] The change of name and the rebranding took place in July 2021.[17] The name was received with widespread criticism and was the subject of online jokes. An online poll of investors described the rebrand as an "act of corporate insanity".[18][19][20]

In July 2021, the company sold Parmenion, an investment and technology solutions business that supports financial advice firms, to Preservation Capital Partners.[21]

In May 2022, Abrdn acquired Interactive Investor, a British subscription-based retail investment services company with over 400,000 customers for £1.49 billion.[22]

In June 2023, the company restructured its financial planning arm, splitting into two models – the 'financial consultant' model and the 'regional advice' model.[23]

In January 2024, it was widely reported that Abrdn were to cut around 10% of its workforce of 5,000 people as part of a £150M restructuring plan.[24] On 24 January 2024, the plans to cut around 500 jobs were confirmed.[25]

In April 2024, Abrdn completed the sale of its European-headquartered private equity business (with £7.4bn assets under management) to Nasdaq-listed Patria Investments for up to £100m. The sale followed the sale of its US-headquartered private equity business to High Vista Strategies in 2023.[26]

In May 2024, Stephen Bird stood down as CEO and Jason Windsor, the then CFO, was appointed as interim group CEO,[27] and formally appointed to the role in September of that year.[28]

On 4 March 2025, the company changed its trading identity to "aberdeen", after its 2021 rebrand to "abrdn" faced widespread criticism. The company also initiated a search for a new chair as Douglas Flint prepared to step down.[29] On 13 March 2025, the company changed its name to "Aberdeen Group plc".[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Abrdn plc overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House. 30 June 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Annual Results 2024". Abrdn. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  3. ↑ Kleinman, Mark (23 January 2024). "Fund manager abrdn to axe hundreds of jobs in cost-cutting push". Sky News. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  4. ↑ "abrdn plc – Registered Office". Companies House. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "abrdn becomes 'Aberdeen Group' rather than 'aberdeen group'". Morning Star. 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  6. ↑ "Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life confirm merger terms". BBC News. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "CMA clears Standard Life-Aberdeen Asset Management merger - BBC News". BBC News. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  8. ↑ Walmsley, Charles (4 May 2016). "Standard Life buys AXA Elevate". Wealth Manager. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  9. ↑ Mooney, Attracta (27 October 2017). "Standard Life Aberdeen hit by $10bn of withdrawals". Financial Times. United Kingdom. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  10. ↑ "Standard Life Aberdeen seals shift into asset management". Financial Times. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Burton, Lucy (30 October 2018). "New era for Standard Life Aberdeen as City grandee Douglas Flint takes the chair". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  12. ↑ Burns, Hamish (30 June 2020). "Stephen Bird: Who is the new chief executive of Standard Life Aberdeen?". Insider. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  13. ↑ Hosking, Patrick (10 December 2020). "Standard Life buys stake in £5bn fund manager Tritax". The Times. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  14. ↑ Reid, Scott (23 February 2021). "Historic 200-year-old Standard Life brand name sold to Phoenix Group - Edinburgh staff to transfer". The Scotsman. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  15. ↑ Sheen, Mike (26 April 2021). "Standard Life Aberdeen set for 'modern, dynamic' rebrand to abrdn". Investment Week. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  16. ↑ Sweney, Mark (26 April 2021). "Standard Life Aberdeen to change name to abrdn". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  17. ↑ Duncan, Ellie (5 July 2021). "Standard Life Aberdeen becomes abrdn as it moves to 'single global brand'". Investment Week. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  18. ↑ Wong, Henry (27 April 2021). "Standard Life Aberdeen to become Abrdn in "digitally-enabled" rebrand". DesignWeek. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  19. ↑ Coggan, Georgia (5 May 2021). "Is the ridiculed 'Abrdn' rebrand the biggest branding misfire of 2021?". CreativeBloq.com. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  20. ↑ Murden, Terry (16 September 2021). "Abrdn rebrand dubbed 'act of corporate insanity'". DailyBusiness. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  21. ↑ Gilbert, Jack (1 July 2021). "SLA completes £102m Parmenion sale". Citywire. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  22. ↑ Marchant, Christopher (30 May 2022). "abrdn completes takeover of interactive investor". Investment Week. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  23. ↑ Vallely, Lois (12 June 2023). "Exclusive: Abrdn restructures financial planning arm". Money Marketing. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  24. ↑ Agnew, Harriet; Hickey, Sally (23 January 2024). "Abrdn to cut hundreds of jobs as part of £150mn restructuring plan". www.ft.com. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  25. ↑ Graham, August (24 January 2024). "Abrdn confirms plans to cut around 500 jobs". Evening Standard. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  26. ↑ "abrdn offloads European private equity business to Patria Investments for £100m". Scottish Financial News. 30 April 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  27. ↑ Williford, Hannah (24 May 2024). "CEO Stephen Bird to leave Abrdn". Portfolio Adviser. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  28. ↑ "Abrdn names interim chief Jason Windsor as group CEO". Reuters. 9 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  29. ↑ Withers, Iain; Cruise, Sinead (4 March 2025). "UK's abrdn renames itself 'aberdeen' in strategy revamp". Reuters. Retrieved 4 March 2025.