Abrdn is said to mulling an approach from Santander to buy the fund manager’s private equity arm for around £250mln.
Santander is one of a number of groups that are interested, according to Sky News, with a deal expected to be struck for as much as £250mln within the next few months.
Abrdn’s private equity funds division is a legacy of Standard Life, which merged with Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.
Stephen Bird, abrdn’s current chief executive, has recently shifted the group towards the retail wealth platform space with the £1.5bn acquisition of Interactive Investor the biggest deal so far.
Pressure on management caused by a slump in assets under management has eased recently following a revival in its share price, which has rallied from a five-year low of 133p in July last year to 216p currently.
abrdn's forthcoming full-year results are expected to show more asset outflows nonetheless and a pre-tax profit forecast of £228mln, according to today’s report.
Neither abrdn nor Santander have commented.