M&A: Deutsche disposal ‘better late than never’

Deutsche Bank’s disposal of its UK asset management business (DeAM UK) and Philadelphia-based active fixed-income business to Aberdeen Asset Management will be a great relief to the bank’s senior board members. The UK unit has been in dire straits in the past two years, haemorrhaging staff and losing a series of pension fund mandates. In 2004 alone, the businesses sold made losses of £77 million ($135 million).

Last September, DeAM UK CEO Paul Berriman vehemently denied rumours of a withdrawal, stating: “The UK institutional investment market is the largest in Europe – no fund management firm could afford not to have an operation in the UK.”