Opinion on Aberdeen Asset Management

What do you guys think of Aberdeen Asset Management, its training program for graduates and overall "prestige"/reputation if my end goal is L/S equity hedge funds? I recently got offered a position in its London equities investment division, and although it is the 2nd largest UK asset manager behind Schroders, it seems that its brand name is much weaker, perhaps due to its exposure to EM which is expected to underperform.

I heard the average tenure of analysts/PMs are pretty long, but that may be due to a lack of exit opps. How would you guys rank it besides other equities-focused asset managers?

15 Comments
 

They're well known as an EM manager but have had a disastrous run over the past few years. I feel like every time I look at a dog in EM Aberdeen owns a big stake. Aberdeen grew so big in EM that they became a closet indexer, but with higher fees and underperformance. The business will definitely continue to shrink in the coming years. It's probably a good place to start a career (good training and overall reputation) but I wouldn't want to be midcareer there.

 

I disagree that it has had a "disastrous run." it's been a very solid fund, consistently outperforming the index and peers. It own the big EM names such as Samsung and Lukoil, so I understand the closet index case, but its performance has been strong.

 

Heard its a good EM AM shop, no personal experience there though.

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people Jeremy
 

That's really helpful guys, thanks. I've heard that they're focused a lot on teamwork and that they have no real 'stars'. It's more about the collective effort.

I was looking to find more information on their Investment strategies, as it seems their website doesn't discuss much about it. Also, any info on recent performance would be amazing!

 

I think II awarded them best performing EM shop last year? Could be wrong.

Off topic; Walkio, weren't you the one who asked how to get into Swiss banks?

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people Jeremy
 

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