Aberdeen earns thumbs-up on Deutsche
Aberdeen Asset Management has earned a cautious thumbs up from ratings house Morningstar on the manner in which it has handled the acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s local equities funds management business.
In an assessment issued this week, Morningstar said it remained cautious but more upbeat in its view of the Aberdeen strategy now that the changes had been completed.
“The Deutsche acquisition has been handled effectively and Aberdeen has progressively removed incumbent positions to end up with a portfolio that reflects its own investment views,” the ratings house assessment said.
It noted that examples of this had included the removal of Allco Equity Partners, Centro Properties, and Commander Communications.
“The team of five runs a well-versed investment process and the result is a concentrated vanilla portfolio exuding stability,” the Morningstar assessment said.
“While all the pieces now appear to be in place for Aberdeen, we remain cautious about the team’s lack of experience and depth relative to peers. We also have some misgivings about the less than ideal remuneration structure — bonuses are linked to the performance of the Aberdeen business, rather than encouraging key investment staff to have skin in the game,” it said.
Recommended for you
A former Victorian financial adviser has been sentenced after stealing $4.4 million from clients, family and friends to feed his “raging gambling addiction”.
Advice licensee Centrepoint Alliance has acquired the financial advice book of superannuation fund Brighter Super and will become the preferred partner to provide advice to its members.
The association has expressed its support for the Opposition’s commitment to making financial advice a “national priority”, alongside its bold target of reaching 30,000 advisers.
Australian investors are increasingly turning to financial advisers as their top source of information, with more than a third using them for investment guidance.
