Financial Results
Aberdeen Asset Management Suffers £9.9 Billion Outflows In Q2
The London-listed asset manager's net outflows neared £10 billion in the second quarter, while its asset pool shrunk by 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
Aberdeen Asset Management suffered net outflows of £9.9 billion ($15.4 billion) over the three months to the end of June as investors reduced exposure to Asia and emerging market equities.
The quarter's gross outflows of £19.5 billion dwarfed gross inflows of £9.6 billion. Aberdeen said the outflows were fuelled by “some restructuring by a major client”, although it expects some of these assets to be reinvested in the coming period.
Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, which Aberdeen acquired last year, contributed net outflows of £3.7 billion.
Meanwhile, equities saw net outflows of £4.5 billion, mainly driven by withdrawals from a small number of institutional mandates in Asia-Pacific and global equities.
Assets under management dipped 7 per cent from the previous quarter to £307.3 billion amid unfavourable market conditions.
“Market and FX movements together with low margin outflows from certain fixed income and solutions clients accounted for a large proportion of the decline in AuM,” said Aberdeen's chief executive, Martin Gilbert, in a trading update.
“In addition, macroeconomic factors and investor sentiment towards Asia and emerging markets continued to weigh on equity flows. Despite this the long-term investment case for Asia and emerging markets is unchanged and we believe that committed investors will be rewarded over time.”
On the upside, the company said it had £4 billion of new commitments and mandates awarded. The awards, of which over 75 per cent will go to its property, solutions and alternatives capabilities, have not yet been funded.
It has been a busy quarter for the company, most recently with the purchase of a minority stake in Aberdeen SVG Private Equity, a deal that comes as part of its diversification strategy. In May, Aberdeen announced it is to acquire Flag Capital Management, a US-based private equity and real estate-focused firm.
