Standard Life shares tumble as Aberdeen slashes stake
Shares in Standard Life fell sharply on Thursday as Aberdeen revealed it would sell half of its remaining stake in the company, less than ten years after the messy merger between the two investment firms.
Aberdeen will cut its stake to around 5.2 per cent per cent through a secondary placing, which will value Standard Life’s shares at £8.39 per share and raise £436m.
Standard Life’s shares fell 4.9 per cent to 828p on news of the sale. Aberdeen’s shares rose 0.6 per cent to 236p.
The FTSE 100 group said it would use the money raised from the sale in accordance with its existing cash allocation policy.
This includes “maintaining a strong balance sheet, investing selectively in the business to support sustainable profitable growth, reducing and optimising debt over time, and delivering sustainable returns to shareholders,” the company said.
Evercore Partners is acting as lead financial advisor, while Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Cazenove have been appointed as joint global coordinators.
The messy merger
Aberdeen merged with Standard Life in 2017 in a deal valued at £11bn, but sold the Standard Life business to Phoenix Group for £3.2bn a year later. Phoenix rebranded as Standard Life in March 2026.
Analysts argue Aberdeen’s resurgence has been orchestrated by its acquisition of Interactive Investor, returning it to the FTSE 100 from mid-market exile.
Since its integration into Aberdeen, Interactive Investor has seen steady inflows and has hit multiple record highs.
The platform generated net inflows of £6.8bn in the first half of the year and grew its customer base by 14 per cent to 525,000.