Abrdn currently has about 500 funds and intends to reduce that number by around 80 this year - one of which is one of Bruce Stout's funds.
But a glance at our database reveals DFMs' interest is focused on a handful of the company’s products.
As part of his presentation to analysts on results day, Abrdn chief executive Stephen Bird said he intends for the firm to grow in the fixed income space, and the chart below shows bonds are already the area of Abrdn’s offering on which the DFMs we cover are most keen.
The most popular Abrdn funds of the lot are the linkers mandates it runs, with three of its mandates investing in that space held by a combined five of the allocators we cover.
The Abrdn Short Duration Global Index Linked Bond active fund and the company’s Short Dated Inflation Linked Bond tracker fund are both owned by two DFMs.
The company's Global Inflation Linked Bond tracker is owned by one of the allocators we cover.
The old Aberdeen business, before it gained Standard Life and lost its vowels, hung its shingle on being an emerging markets house.
The legacy of that remains, with some of its Asia Pacific proving popular among the DFMs we cover - though no more so than Abrdn’s European equity funds, with the firm's European Enhanced Equity and Europe Ex UK funds each owned by one of the allocators we cover.
In fact Abrdn's money market funds are now more popular among DFMs than its emerging market funds.
In terms of Asia Pacific equities, the Asia Dragon investment trust and the Abrdn Asia Income fund are each held by one allocator, and neither have had any new buyers or sellers since the start of 2022.
In some respects, if Abrdn wants to become a fund house focused on fixed income it doesn’t have that far to travel - if DFMs are anything to go by.
Of the Abrdn fund holdings in our database, eight are bond funds and 11 are equity funds (plus three money market fund holdings and one property fund holding).
