Abrdn Will Shift Funds Focus to Private Assets and  Emerging Markets

(Bloomberg) -- Stephen Bird, chief executive officer of Abrdn Plc, is aiming to give the asset manager an edge by pushing into areas that most of the industry does not focus on. 

Abrdn, which manages 542 billion pounds ($681 billion) of assets, will shift its focus to real assets, including energy infrastructure and private debt, emerging markets and smaller companies, in a bid to stand out from other active managers, Bird told Bloomberg News. “Everybody does long US equity strategies,” he said. “We want to differentiate the business.”

The former Citigroup Inc. executive took the top job two years ago and has managed to stem the pace of redemptions from the firm’s mutual funds business. Since he joined he famously changed the firm’s name -- from Standard Life Aberdeen -- and shook up senior teams. Abrdn announced the acquisition of “do it yourself” platform Interactive Investor Ltd. in a 1.5 billion-pound deal to diversify the business in December. 

The combination of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life in 2017 was intended to build a firm big enough to compete with cheaper, passive rivals as well as the global giants. Since the tie-up, though, assets under management and administration have tumbled by more than 100 billion pounds, while the likes of Schroders Plc and Amundi have grown.

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