LK Hyman
06 Mar 2017
Re: Standard Life in bed with Aberdeen A... Bill,"You don't get a fizzog like Gilbert's without putting in some hard yards at the bar"OMG! You're right, m8. If everyone put in as many hard yards as he clearly has done I will have been crazy to have cut back on my shareholding in Diageo. LKH on the flybridge
Bill1703
06 Mar 2017
Re: Standard Life in bed with Aberdeen A... "There is a massive swing towards tracker funds, especially in the US, as the safest bet and smallest charges. Is it just me, or isn't that largely based on the recent performance of the stock market.... When they start accurately tracking a correction, there may be a lot of questions asked about such wisdom, especially if it truns into a bear market."Eadwig - yes, and as LKH infers, there's a point at which the sheer weight of passive money means the system breaks down, and we must be reasonably close to that point in the US... it doesn't help that Uncle Warren the other day was (yet again) advising people that the best thing they could do with their cash was put it in a low-cost US market tracker. But there is still a ways to go for passive in the UK and Europe... as SL and AAM clearly recognise (and fear).But you also highlight the paradox confronting the active guys... They make more money in buoyant bull markets, yet their reason to exist will increasingly only stand up in less prosperous times. How they embrace this (rather than pretend it doesn't exist) will be key to future success IMHO, but it's not easy... as we've seen from the likes of SL's GARS, funds 'offering' good returns in all weathers too often tend to deliver p**spoor performance come rain, come shine... "I wonder what the cultural fit between Aberdeen and SL is like? Gilbert and Skeoch may have fished together for 30 years as Gilbert claimed on the wireless this morning, but it wouldn't surprise me if the two companies are like chalk and cheese."Fished together?!? That might just be his little euphemism... as in "drinks like...". You don't get a fizzog like Gilbert's without putting in some hard yards at the bar... and something which MG shares with his "good friend" Sir Alex F....
LK Hyman
06 Mar 2017
Re: Standard Life in bed with Aberdeen A... Tea-club,"For us mere punters, trackers seem like the right place to be in a bull run, then consider a managed fund only when we need to....."The charges on any fund, whether active or passive, are such that anyone with even a passing interest in the stock market ... such as presumably the great majority of those who post here ... ought to have a sporting chance of outperforming both via picking individual stocks, provided natch that one doesn't put all one's eggs in one basket and diversifies one's holdings to a reasonable extent [cries of "what's reasonable, LK?"]LKH on the flybridge
LK Hyman
06 Mar 2017
Re: Standard Life in bed with Aberdeen A... Eadwig,"There is a massive swing towards tracker funds, especially in the US, as the safest bet and smallest charges."Hmmmm. One thinks of Coleridge's Kubla Khan:"And all should cry, Beware! Beware!His flashing eyes, his floating hair!" There is an increasing risk in the move towards trackers that insufficient people are engaged in evaluating the true value of the big bonobos that make up the bulk of the indices that they track. It's a recipe for a clusterfuck at some stage, shipm8es.I wonder what the cultural fit between Aberdeen and SL is like? Gilbert and Skeoch may have fished together for 30 years as Gilbert claimed on the wireless this morning, but it wouldn't surprise me if the two companies are like chalk and cheese.Still, look on the bright side, Mr Market thinks the deal is sensible ... for today anyhoo.LKH on the flybridge
Bill1703
06 Mar 2017
Re: BBC This morning "I don't know where that figure has come from, that is way, way exaggerated," said Aberdeen CEO Martin Gilbert."Hmmmm - well, he would say that, wouldn't he?!You are certainly talking at least ONE job cut, I fancy.... Mr Martin Gilbert. Sooner or later (most likely the former).They have clearly done a lot of work on their £200m cost savings figure... and the corresponding up front £320m charge (which they imply is all-cash). And as per our earlier correspondence, these are essentially people businesses...Yes, they have wrapped it up in the usual euphemisms.... eliminating duplication, rationalisation, etc. And many of their people are pretty expensive people - but even so, looking at the above figures, my guess would be AT LEAST 1,000 job cuts, overall. But they can't say too much about this right now, for obvious reasons...
Eadwig
06 Mar 2017
Re: UK/ Europe thegusman, "What do people think will happen to the German and Irish offices if this deal goes through? "If they are both held by the same company now, they'll be retained. If they own one each, one will go possibly. If they both happen to have German and Irish offices, there must be some good reason for that specific, but they'll close one of them in each company.The biggest Asset management company in the world is Blackrock, and they are a US company but have offices (and many registered businesses) in the UK - and no doubt elsewhere in Europe and the world.There is obviously good reason for such companies having offices in several locales. Whether or not 'passporting' is as important for access to the EU when selling asset management services, I don't know. As for insurance - well that's one of the service areas that is still under discussion when it comes to the EU 'single market', but they're only 25 years into discussions, so there's no hurry.Lloyds of London, when asked pre-vote, said if Brexit occurred they could run their business, which has many EU-based clients, just as well from Singapore.I was researching some different funds of varying types last week on ii. Its interesting to note that each has included in the summary detail which countries they are on sale to. Quite a lot have several EU countries named, but certainly not all. Which would appear to underline the above.
tea_club_7
06 Mar 2017
Re: Standard Life in bed with Aberdeen A... Seems to me in a rising market it is much more difficult to justify active fund management. In the leaner market times of drifting or declining indices then the active management might show how they can differentiate themselves. For us mere punters, trackers seem like the right place to be in a bull run, then consider a managed fund only when we need to.....T
Eadwig
06 Mar 2017
Re: BBC This morning Eadwig, "Not about job cuts (although they expect about 1000). "The £11B merger between Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life will lead to some job losses but not the 1,000 figure that has been cited in the media."I don't know where that figure has come from, that is way, way exaggerated," said Aberdeen CEO Martin Gilbert.The two firms set out the terms of their proposed deal today, stating they expected to be able to save up to £200M in costs.[That's what comes to reporting on an interview that you only heard half of]
Eadwig
06 Mar 2017
BBC This morning Only caught the end of the interview, but was obviously someone from AAM speaking.Not about job cuts (although they expect about 1000). Its all about diversifying the group, adding AAM's emerging market stocks expertise (which he admits has been in decline since 2013, but hopes will come back soon) and Standard Life's mortgage and insurance business, as well as the less touted assets under management which includes many large commercial properties all over the world.The name? Well, its going to include aspects of both companies, Aberdeen Standard Life was suggested. But it sounds like the plan is for a holding company with such a name, which suggests Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management both being retained.I agree with I think it was LKH - you mess with a brand like Standard Life at your peril. One of the oldest and best known in the financial world. It sounds like the management may have come to the same conclusion.
Eadwig
06 Mar 2017
Re: Standard Life in bed with Aberdeen A... Bill & LKH, "After all, someone has to pick the stocks in order for there to BE an index.""In fact, the passive funds have come down in charges increasingly due to automation.There is a massive swing towards tracker funds, especially in the US, as the safest bet and smallest charges. Is it just me, or isn't that largely based on the recent performance of the stock market - where of course automated tracker funds have shown fantastic returns.When they start accurately tracking a correction, there may be a lot of questions asked about such wisdom, especially if it truns into a bear market.
jlovie
06 Mar 2017
Re: STAB I only have these SL shares as a windfall from an old pension find, long since converted to a SIPP.SL looked worth keeping, now I'm not so sure, I'll have to have a good look at selling them on this high.I was glad to get rid of AAM shares I once held, now it seems I'll effectively be getting them back.I hope they don't call themselves Aberdeen AssLife.
Hydrogen Economy
06 Mar 2017
Deal Agreed Seems SL have agreed the deal. Both well up 7%+ at the open"Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., largest shareholder with a 17 percent stake, and Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the third-biggest shareholder, support the deal, the statement says" H2[link] Life shareholders will own 66.7 percent of the combined group, according to a joint statement from on Monday. Aberdeen’s investors will receive 0.757 new Standard Life ordinary share for each share they already own. That values Aberdeen in line with its market value before the talks were first announced.
LK Hyman
06 Mar 2017
Re: STAB Video,"Standard Life has a massage parlour across the road for goodness sake!"I've always thought Standard Life were useless ever since the scoundrels sold me an underperforming endowment policy to back up my first and only mortgage. Fortunately I turned it in early and put the proceeds directly into Unilever, Diageo and Shell (if memory serves) and the performance promptly perked up remarkably.Then there was the disgraceful way that SL rubbished that Ocker Fred someone or other who tried single-handedly for ages to get them to ditch their damnfool mutual status that enabled the scoundrels to avoid most standards of corporate governance. I shall not be investing in STAB or ABSALOM ... or any of their funds.So there.LKH on the flybridge
thegusman
05 Mar 2017
UK/ Europe What do people think will happen to the German and Irish offices if this deal goes through?
videodawn
05 Mar 2017
Re: STAB Dear Bill ( remember that from Private Eye?)Thanks for correcting me. It is a train station of course, not a railway station, but moving on. AAM acquired Murray Johnstone around 2000 time and acquired that fund manager's extensive art collection.I viewed it and asked about it on a few occasions and it was treated as an investment for accounts purposes, I believe, but no doubt MG admired it while sipping coffee at the oak board table.AAM must be be one of the few fund managers with a wine bar in the basement IMO. No grey grey men shuffling around grey pubs LOL. Standard Life has a massage parlour across the road for goodness sake!
