GLASGOW - Aberdeen Asset Management has a $1.4 million deal to buy Themis Investment Management, HSBC Holdings' London-headquartered index fund management unit, the companies recently announced.
Themis, which oversees three European stock index funds, is Aberdeen's fourth deal since August. It was announced Nov. 28. In September, Themis bought Barclays Property Management for $33 million. In early October, it bought Murray Johnstone Holdings Ltd. from Boston's United Asset Management Corp. for $220 million, and two weeks later it signed a deal to buy Equitilink Group of Sydney, an Australian asset manager, for $80 million.
Piers Currie, Aberdeen's director of product development, said the deals were made to offset a potential loss of $14 billion of assets when London's Abbey National, one of its major pension clients, is bought by Scottish Provident. Abbey National is expected to move the assets to Scottish Provident when the deal closes.
Mr. Currie said he does not plan to change the investment objectives, policies, or management roster of Themis, which has $252 million of assets under management.
Aberdeen, with $42.4 billion of assets under management, is one of the United Kingdom's largest listed, independently owned fund management groups. It has offices across the United Kingdom, as well as investment management operations in the United States and Singapore.
