Hedge fund Toscafund ups Aberdeen Asset Mgt stake
LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Toscafund has increased its stake in Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN.L), the listed investment firm said on Friday. Toscafund, which is run by Martin Hughes and which began buying into Aberdeen in March, increased its holding to 16.12 percent on Wednesday, it said in a note to the Stock Exchange.
Last month, Toscafund became Aberdeen's biggest shareholder, ahead of Lansdowne Partners which holds 10.46 percent, when it increased its shareholding to 15.62 percent. "It's taken the stake as a long-term investment. It's making a number of quite large investments because it believes the current market offers very good opportunities," a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. Aberdeen's shares have underperformed the FTSE All Share index .FTAS by 27.9 percent over the past year. In January, it said its assets under management had risen to 102.9 billion pounds ($204.1 billion) at end-December, helped by an acquisition and new business wins in tough market conditions.
"We welcome them as shareholders," an Aberdeen spokesman told Reuters. At 1516 GMT, Aberdeen's shares were up 4.4 percent at 149.5 pence.
Toscafund has been in the public eye several times in recent years.
It was part of a consortium led by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson that tried to buy ailing bank Northern Rock, and last year joined calls for a shake-up at Dutch bank ABN Amro, saying management had "failed to deliver acceptable returns".
ABN Amro was eventually sold to a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) last October for 71 billion euros ($109.8 billion), the world's biggest banking takeover. (Editing by David Hulmes)
