Standard Life Aberdeen formed in £11bn merger
The much-anticipated £11 billion merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management has been completed.
The tie-up has created Europe's second-biggest fund manager with £670 billion in client funds, edging behind Legal & General Investment Management on £902 billion.
A Stock Exchange announcement on Monday confirmed the deal's conclusion, and follows on from court approval for the merger last week.
New chapter: The much-anticipated £11 billion merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management has been completed
Former Standard Life chief executive and new co-chief executive Keith Skeoch, described the combination as the 'beginning of a new chapter' in the companies' history, and confirmed that the new entity will trade as Standard Life Aberdeen.
'Today marks the culmination of many months of hard work and preparation by our business and the beginning of a new chapter in our history as Standard Life Aberdeen.
'Our leadership team is in place and we have full business readiness from day one,' he said.
The enlarged company will be jointly headed up by Mr Skeoch and Aberdeen boss Martin Gilbert.
The Aberdeen merger, which was agreed in March and given the green light by regulators in June, was overwhelmingly backed by shareholders.
Standard Life chief executive Keith Skeoch
Indeed, during general meetings, more than 95 per cent of investors at Aberdeen and 98 per cent at Standard Life voted in favour of the joint venture.
The deal is targeting cost savings of £200 million a year, with around 800 jobs expected to be lost over a three-year period from a global workforce of 9,000.
Mr Gilbert said: 'As ever our priority remains the delivery of strong investment performance and the highest level of client service.
'The merger deepens and broadens our investment capabilities and gives us a stronger and more diverse range of investment management skills as well as significant scale across asset classes and geographies.'
Overall, Standard Life Aberdeen will have offices in 50 cities around the world, servicing clients in 80 countries.