Standard Life Aberdeen’s assets under management and administration grew by 3 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, powered by a joint venture agreement with Virgin Money.
Total assets under management and administration were £568.9bn, compared with £551.5bn at the end of December 2018.
In a statement released to the stock market this morning (14 May) the company stated that £3.5bn of the asset growth came from the deal with Virgin Money.
The agreement was announced in January, and saw Standard Life Aberdeen acquire a 50 per cent stake in Virgin Money’s asset management business, and be allowed access to Virgin Money customers to market Standard Life Aberdeen’s products.
Virgin Money is owned by banking group CYBG, and the agreement means Standard Life Aberdeen will also be able to market its products to customers of that bank.
The joint venture agreement is expected to formally complete by the end of the second quarter of 2019.
Meanwhile the acquisition of Orion Partners, an Asian based fund management firm, added £700m of assets.
The company stated that outflows were concentrated on a small number of its strategies.
The assets on Wrap and Elevate, the Standard Life adviser platforms, grew to £57.6bn, an increase of £3.4bn on the previous quarter. Of this, £8.1bn is invested in Standard Life Aberdeen’s own products.
The increase in platform assets was more than 6 per cent, making it the fastest growing area of the business in assets under management terms, when one-off items such as the joint venture and the acquisition are excluded.
david.thorpe@ft.com
