SCOTTISH Equitable's leading fund manager Russell Hogan
yesterday questioned whether rival Scottish Widows Investment
Management would be able to make the major acquisition it is seeking at the right price in the current environment.
He added that comments by life office Scottish Widows' new investment chief, American Orie Dudley, about the necessity of acquisitions and being able to raise #500m-plus for them, would make it an ''interesting task to manage existing operations'' because of the uncertainty it would create.
Hogan last year relaunched Scottish Equitable Asset
Management into the pension fund management arena, following a marked improvement in
investment performance.
''Whether you are talking about the UK or anywhere else in the world, prices have gone up an awful lot over the last few years,'' he said.
''It is one thing giving an intention to go out and look for (acquisitions), but I am not sure how easy it would be to find them.''
He welcomed Widows' ambition - stated in a newspaper report as being to increase funds under management from about #30bn to #100bn within seven years - in the context of the Scottish fund management industry as a whole. One senior Scottish fund manager speculated yesterday that London-based Newton Investment Management, which has funds under management of about #12bn, might be a target for Widows.
He justified this speculation by pointing out that Newton contained Royal Bank of Scotland's former Capital House unit trust management business and
Widows had a strategic alliance with the bank. The investment performance of Newton's pooled pension fund over 10 years is far superior to that of Widows' fund.
But another senior industry source believed Dudley would look to his homeland for acquisitions.
He said: ''You probably would get a lot more assets for your #500m or #1000m in the United States, where there are an awful lot more fund management operations, than you would in the UK.''
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