Martin Gilbert to spearhead a fresh wave of deal-making activity10 Jan 2021 12:28
"Martin Gilbert, the veteran fund management boss, is joining forces with a group of City grandees and former Aberdeen Asset Management colleagues to spearhead a fresh wave of deal-making activity across the sector.
Sky News has learnt that Mr Gilbert, who stepped down from the helm of Standard Life Aberdeen last year, will next week take a roughly 10% stake in AssetCo, a London-listed cash shell, paving the way for it to become his main corporate vehicle.
Mr Gilbert will also join the AssetCo board in an executive role and intends to use it to build a new platform across asset management and broader financial services, according to people briefed on his plans.
Sources said he had lined up erstwhile colleagues including Peter McKellar, Aberdeen Standard Investments' former global head of private markets, and Gordon Neilly, Aberdeen's former global strategy chief, as investors in AssetCo.
AssetCo is best-known as the listed fire engine leasing group which successfully sued its former auditor, Grant Thornton, for more than £20m over its failure to expose a fraud at the company.
Mr Gilbert is understood to have decided to use it as his corporate vehicle following discussions with Christopher Mills, the Harwood Capital Management founder who holds a big stake in the cash shell.
Heavyweight City names including the former ICAP chief Lord Spencer and Toscafund Asset Management - which Mr Gilbert also chairs - are said to be considering backing his second act as an asset management entrepreneur."
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