Price forced Aberdeen to abandon Pioneer bid

Aberdeen Asset Management CEO Martin Gilbert

Aberdeen Asset Management pulled out of a bid for UniCredit’s Pioneer Global Asset Management because the 3.5 billion euros price was too high, Aberdeen’s chief executive Martin Gilbert told Bloomberg.

“We were through to the second round but we withdrew,” Gilbert said in a Bloomberg interview in Dubai.

“We couldn’t quite afford the 3.5 billion that it’s going to go for.

“I wish we could find something, but there’s nothing at the moment.”

Gilbert told Bloomberg that being independent is a “massive advantage” for Aberdeen.

“The wealth managers are massive clients of ours — the fact we’re not owned by anyone means we can deal with them all,” Gilbert said on a visit to the United Arab Emirates to open Aberdeen’s new office in Abu Dhabi.

“I keep encouraging banks to sell their asset-management subsidiaries to us and we’ve bought a lot.”

Aberdeen bought Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) from Lloyds Banking Group for $692 million in 2014.