Aberdeen Asset Management has established an office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is moving its emerging markets equities investment manager, Nick Robinson, there to head it up.
While the office will initially focus on the research and management of Latin American equities, the intention is to make it the hub for all of Aberdeen’s activities in the region, including the management of the assets of Latin American clients, Aberdeen said.
The company currently manages more than £600m on behalf of investors there.
Robinson, who had been based in London, will focus on the research and management of Latin American equities. He will be supported by emerging market team colleagues based in London and Singapore, who will continue to visit companies in the region regularly.
Aberdeen has been investing in the Brazil region since the late 1980s. Today the group’s global emerging markets team manages more than £7.5bn, of which £2.5bn is invested in Latin American stocks.
Aberdeen said its £843m Aberdeen Emerging Markets Fund is overweight companies based in the region at present.
Devan Kaloo, head of global emerging markets at Aberdeen, said the company had long wanted to have a local presence in Latin America, “because we recognise the region’s global importance”.
Added Aberdeen chief executive Martin Gilbert: “establishing an office in Sao Paulo is an exciting development in Aberdeen’s history.”
Aberdeen Asset Management was originally founded in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1983. Today it is a FTSE 250-listed company based in London, with group assets under management at the end of June of $129.2bn. At the end of December 2008 it announced it would acquire Credit Suisse’s fund management arm for up to £250m worth of shares.
