Martin Gilbert’s AssetCo has confirmed that it is to acquire investment manager River & Mercantile Group (RMG).

AssetCo, set up by Mr Gilbert - founder of Aberdeen Asset Management, will pay £98.8m for the asset manager.

Mr Gilbert has a long track record in asset and wealth management. He co-founded Aberdeen Asset Management in 1983 and was CEO from 1991 to 2017. In 2017 Aberdeen Asset Management merged with Standard Life to form Standard Life Aberdeen. 

Mr Gilbert is also chairman of app-based robo adviser Revolut Ltd and Toscafund, deputy chairman of River and Mercantile Group and senior independent director of Glencore.

The all-share acquisition of R&M will be implemented by means of a scheme of arrangement.

River & Mercantile shareholders will receive 0.073 new AssetCo shares in exchange for each RMG Share.

This will leave River & Mercantile shareholders with over 41% of AssetCo shares at the close of the deal.

The £190m from the sale of the River & Mercantile Solutions business to Schroders will also go to River and Mercantile shareholders.

AssetCo said it will combine River & Mercantile with Saracen Fund Managers, an asset management firm that it already owns.

The firm also plans to launch products which invest in unquoted companies, especially those in the ESG space.

Mr Gilbert said: “The asset and wealth management industry is contending with significant structural shifts, including technological advances, a reorientation of investing and evolving client needs. We are committed to building an agile asset and wealth manager that is fit for purpose in the 21st century.

“The acquisition of RMG is a core part of this strategy; it strengthens our active equity capability and importantly provides a foundation stone to building a private markets business given its infrastructure investment team.”

AssetCo was originally one of two firms in the running to acquire River & Mercantile. Rival Premier Miton withdrew from acquisition discussions earlier this month.

Premier Milton said it had concluded that there were insufficient commercial merits to make a formal acquisition proposal. 

Mr Gilbert was appointed chairman of investment firm AssetCo in March to spearhead its new acquisition strategy.

Other acquisitions made by the firm include a £27.8m stake in DFM and adviser platform Parmenion and ETF issuer Rize ETF.