The boss of Aberdeen Asset Management has “no plans” to step down from the firm he founded, the group has confirmed, as it contended with a flurry of speculation over claims it was up for sale.
A share price spike driven by the speculation deflated last night as the group scotched further rumours about the departure of its founding chief executive, Martin Gilbert.
A spokesman for the Aberdeen-based fund manager said claims Mr Gilbert, 60, was looking to step down from his role were unfounded.
He said: “He has no plans to do so and would need to give the PLC board two years notice, which he hasn’t done.”
The FTSE-100 firm’s shares closed 2.9% up on the start of yesterday’s trading to 361.7p, although they had risen 4.7% when markets opened due to rumours emerging over the weekend.
On Sunday night, the firm shot down claims made on a financial website that Mr Gilbert had had made “informal approaches” to rivals to buy the firm, which is facing challenging markets and billions of investor outflows in the wake of the economic crisis in China and other emerging markets.
The company issued a strong denial of the claims: “In his 32 years running Aberdeen Asset Management, Martin Gilbert has never made a formal or informal approach to anyone about buying the business.”
But the report still sparked a flurry of speculation, as unnamed sources included in the article claimed the firm was looking for a buyer as it faced a “huge Asian equity market problem”.
The company did not address the speculation with an official announcement to the London Stock yesterday, which served to dampen the rumours further.