Standard Life Aberdeen £11bn mega merger complete

The £11bn merger of Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) and Aberdeen Asset Management (Frankfurt: 899502 - news) has been formally completed, establishing Europe's second-biggest fund manager.

The tie-up between the two Scottish-based investment groups, which was agreed in March, creates a global powerhouse overseeing £670bn of assets.

Overall, Standard Life Aberdeen will have offices in 50 cities around the world, servicing clients in 80 countries.

The merger is targeting cost savings of £200m a year, with around 800 jobs expected to be lost over a three-year period from the current global workforce of 9,000 staff.

Bosses have said they expect "natural turnover" to account for some of the reductions, while other steps will be taken to minimise compulsory redundancies.

Under the terms of the deal, Aberdeen shareholders will own 33.3% and Standard Life shareholders will own 66.7% of the combined group.

Standard Life Aberdeen shares rose 1.2% as markets opened on Monday - its first day of trading as a combined company.

Keith Skeoch and Martin Gilbert had been named co-chief executives of the combined entity.

Mr Skeoch, former chief executive at Standard Life, who will manage the day-to-day running of the new company, said the merger marked "the culmination of many months of hard work" and "the beginning of a new chapter".

Aberdeen's Mr Gilbert, who will take charge of external affairs, added: "The merger deepens and broadens our investment capabilities, and gives us a stronger and more diverse range of investment management skills as well as significant scale across asset classes and geographies."