Aberdeen and Standard Life shares skyrocket on merger deal

News of Standard Life’s agreement to purchase Aberdeen Asset Management has seen shares in both companies take off, with the former climbing to its highest value in over a year.

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Kristen McGachey

The financial world was abuzz over the weekend, as news broke that Standard Life was in late-stage talks to acquire Aberdeen in an all-share merger.

By Monday, Standard Life revealed that it had agreed to buy Aberdeen for £3.8bn, creating the largest fund group in the UK and second-largest entity of its kind in Europe, with £660bn of assets under management.  

Shares in both companies spiked to year-to-date highs, reflecting the market’s unanimous approval of the match-up of the two rivals.

At the time of writing, Standard Life’s shares were up substantially by 5.8% to 400.3p, a level it had not reached since early December 2015.

Meanwhile, the value of Aberdeen’s shares had risen by 4.8% to 300p.

Last year was not smooth sailing for either firm. 

In the immediate Brexit aftermath, shares in Standard Life lost 22.6% of their value, falling from 343.3p per share to 265.8p.