Aberdeen Group plc, trading as aberdeen, is a United Kingdom-based

investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...

headquartered in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...

. The registered office of the company is at

George Street, Edinburgh George Street is the central thoroughfare of the First New Town, Edinburgh, New Town of Edinburgh, planned in the 18th century by James Craig (architect), James Craig. The street takes its name from George III of the United Kingdom, King Geor ...

. The company changed its trading identity from abrdn to aberdeen on 4 March 2025, and its name from abrdn plc to Aberdeen Group plc on 13 March 2025.

History

In March 2017, Standard Life reached an agreement to merge with

Aberdeen Asset Management Aberdeen Asset Management plc was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the ...

, in an all-share merger, subject to shareholder approval. The merged company was named Standard Life Aberdeen. In May 2017, Standard Life acquired the loss-making AXA Portfolio Services for £31 million. This company housed AXA Elevate, the investment platform from

Axa Axa S.A. is a French multinational insurance corporation headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It also provides investment management and other financial services via its subsidiaries. As of 2024, it is the fourth largest financi ...

. At the time of acquisition the platform held £9.8 billion of client assets, boosting the total level of assets held on Standard Life platforms to £36.4 billion. In October 2017, it was reported that there had been withdrawals of $10 billion from Standard Life Aberdeen's mutual funds over the prior year. In February 2018, Standard Life Aberdeen initiated the sale of the Standard Life insurance business to Phoenix for £3.2 billion, marking a transition away from its insurance roots to asset management. Sir Gerry Grimstone stepped down as chairman on 1 January 2019 and was succeeded by Sir Douglas Flint. Keith Skeoch stood down as chief executive and was succeeded by Stephen Bird in September 2020. In September 2020 it initiated the acquisition of a 60% interest in Tritax, one of Europe's leading logistics real estate fund managers. In April 2021, having sold the Standard Life Insurance business to Phoenix in 2018 and having sold the Standard Life name to Phoenix in 2021, the company rebranded as abrdn. The new brand, pronounced "Aberdeen" and developed by the branding agency Wolff Olins, was criticised as difficult to pronounce. The change of name and the rebranding took place in July 2021. The name was received with widespread criticism and was the subject of online jokes. An online poll of investors described the rebrand as an "act of corporate insanity". In July 2021, the company sold Parmenion, an investment and technology solutions business that supports financial advice firms, to Preservation Capital Partners. In May 2022, Abrdn acquired Interactive Investor, a British subscription-based retail investment services company with over 400,000 customers for £1.49 billion. In June 2023, the company restructured its financial planning arm, splitting into two models – the 'financial consultant' model and the 'regional advice' model. In January 2024, it was widely reported that Abrdn were to cut around 10% of its workforce of 5,000 people as part of a £150M restructuring plan. On 24 January 2024, the plans to cut around 500 jobs were confirmed. In April 2024, Abrdn completed the sale of its European-headquartered

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

business (with £7.4bn assets under management) to Nasdaq-listed Patria Investments for up to £100m. The sale followed the sale of its US-headquartered private equity business to High Vista Strategies in 2023. In May 2024, Stephen Bird stood down as CEO and Jason Windsor, the then CFO, was appointed as interim group CEO, and formally appointed to the role in September of that year. On 4 March 2025, the company changed its trading identity to "aberdeen", after its 2021 rebrand to "abrdn" faced widespread criticism. The company also initiated a search for a new chair as Douglas Flint prepared to step down. On 13 March 2025, the company changed its name to "Aberdeen Group plc".

References

External links

* {{Authority control, state=expanded Financial services companies established in 2017 2017 establishments in Scotland British companies established in 2017 Companies based in Edinburgh Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Insurance companies of Scotland Life insurance companies of the United Kingdom Companies in the FTSE 250 Index Asset management companies

History

See also

References

External links