UK-based Aberdeen Asset Management has purchased EquitiLink, an Australian fund manager, for $80 million, in a bid to extend its reach in the Australasian region. The acquisition has catapulted Aberdeens negligible Asian fixed income portfolio of just under $10 million to one of the most prominent in Asia, commanding now more than $1.2 billion in the Asian bond markets.
For EquitiLink, the sellout will increase the companys distribution network in Europe and the US and enhance its ability in research and analysis in a global environment. Under the deal, the Australian managers founding chairmen, Brian Sherman and Lawrence Freedman, will step down and the company will be...