SLA.L Share News (SLA)

(Sharecast News) - Investment manager Standard Life Aberdeen was under the cosh on Friday as it emerged that Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation sold its entire stake in the company.Mitsubishi UFJ said in a statement that it sold 148.6m shares for around £349.3m.SLA said back in August that it would accelerate its £1.75bn share buyback programme after net outflows and profits fell slightly more than expected in the first half of the year.In the first six months of the year, there were gross inflows of £38bn into the group's investment funds, but assets under management shrank to £610.1bn, down 2.7% over the year and 2.6% from six months ago.There were net outflows of £19.2bn from the Aberdeen Standard Investments unit, with a total net outflow of £16.6bn from continuing operations, from £54.6bn of redemptions in the period."Conditions for the asset management industry continue to be challenging," joint chief executives Martin Gilbert and Keith Skeoch said at the time.At 1125 GMT, the shares were down 5.7% to 234.42p.