Press Releases

Aberdeen Unit Trust Managers has agreed the sale of the management contracts for two OEIC fund umbrellas containing 10 open-end funds to Premier Asset Management Group. Completion of the deal is subject to regulatory and Premier shareholder consent. These former Credit Suisse funds have total assets of some £858 million (as at 8 July 2009).

The funds which will transfer to Premier are:

Aberdeen Income Funds

• Aberdeen Income Fund
• Aberdeen Monthly Income Fund
• Aberdeen Alpha Income Fund
• Aberdeen Corporate Bond Monthly Income Fund

Aberdeen Growth Funds

• Aberdeen Alpha Growth Fund
• Aberdeen UK Mid 250 Fund
• Aberdeen Fellowship Fund
• Aberdeen Managed Assets Fund
• Aberdeen Smaller Companies Fund
• Aberdeen UK Thematic Fund

The 10 funds formed part of the £36 billion in assets transferred to Aberdeen Asset Management PLC as part of its acquisition of various businesses from Credit Suisse, including over 190 funds domiciled in eight different countries. Given the scale and complexity of the acquisition, it was inevitable that certain parts of the business would be less suited to integration into the Aberdeen business model. After careful consideration, Aberdeen has concluded with Premier that the interests of investors in these two OEIC umbrellas would be better served under Premier’s business model.

Aberdeen is working with Premier to effect transition on 31 July to the team of fund managers which Premier has identified to manage the funds going forward. This team includes Bill Mott who will be well known to many of the investors in the funds. Aberdeen’s existing investment management team is focused on ensuring continuity of management in the meantime.

The remaining five conventional funds which transferred across from Credit Suisse, and 12 multi-manager funds, all domiciled in the UK, are considered to fit well with Aberdeen’s business model. These funds are now managed respectively by Aberdeen’s various equity teams, and the six-strong multi-manager team, jointly led by Aidan Kearney and Graham Duce, who have joined Aberdeen from Credit Suisse.

^* scheduled to re-branded “Aberdeen Multi-Manager” w.e.f 1 August 2009

Gary Marshall, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Unit Trust Managers Ltd, said:

“I am pleased that we have concluded an arrangement which represents a good fit for different parts of the businesses that we have acquired, and that Aberdeen’s agreement with Premier ends the speculation over the future ownership of these funds. We will do our utmost ensure that the transfer to Premier is organised with the absolute minimum of disruption to clients.”

Premier Asset Management is a privately owned asset management company with approximately £1.4bn of assets under management. The two OEIC umbrella funds moving to Premier from Aberdeen will be largely complementary to Premier’s existing range.