LONDON (Reuters UK) - Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) said on Tuesday it would become one of the world's ten biggest property asset management firms after agreeing to buy Goodman Property Investors (GPI) for around 89 million pounds.
The fund manager said the acquisition of rival GPI -- which has more than 7 billion pounds of real estate assets under management -- would bolster the position of its own property division, Aberdeen Property Investors, by boosting its assets under management by more than 42 percent to 24 billion pounds.
The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership, Aberdeen said in a statement.
"It's an excellent deal for us," Martin Gilbert, Aberdeen chief executive officer, said in a conference call.
"We're not pessimistic on property but we've been prudent in modelling the effects property might have on the business," he said.
With around 93 percent of GPI's assets under management invested, directly or indirectly, in UK property, the acquisition will give Aberdeen greater exposure to Britain's real estate fund management market.
The acquisition also extends and strengthens Aberdeen's on-ground presence in burgeoning property markets across Europe and Asia, where both firms have been driving forward the development of property fund of funds' businesses.
The Goodman acquisition comes just weeks after Aberdeen bought German open-ended property fund manager DEGI for around 110 million euros.
"A significant UK platform was the missing piece in Aberdeen Property Investors' European business. The deal also strengthens our presence in Asia, a region which is likely to attract increased interest from investors looking to diversify their property portfolios," said Rickard Backlund, chief executive officer of Aberdeen Property Investors.
GPI is the largest independent property fund manager in the UK with 160 staff, of which 130 are based in the UK. It has offices in London, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Paris as well as representative offices in Hong Kong and Sydney.
(See www.reutersrealestate.com for the global service for real estate professionals from Reuters)
(Reporting by Sinead Cruise and Laurence Fletcher; Editing by Rory Channing)
