Aberdeen Asset buys C.Suisse fund mgmt arm

By Matt Scuffham and Joel Dimmock

LONDON (Reuters) - Credit Suisse will sell a sizeable chunk of its fund management arm it considers as subscale to Aberdeen Asset Management at a loss, making Aberdeen the largest listed UK fund company.

In the all-share deal, the Swiss bank will receive a 25-percent stake worth around at 250 million pound in Aberdeen, and will book a 600 million Swiss franc fourth-quarter book loss.

"This agreement enables us to focus our resources on our alternative investments, asset allocation, and Swiss business, where we have strong performance and critical mass," Credit Suisse said in a statement on Wednesday.

The deal will boost Aberdeen's assets under management by a third, making it the UK's largest listed asset manager -- and will add further clout to its sales and distribution network.

"The terms of the deal appear to be highly favourable to Aberdeen," brokerage Daniel Stewart said in a note.

Aberdeen shares soared in the wake of the announcement, adding 15.2 pence to end the shortened trading day at 119.5 pence. Credit Suisse shares were not traded because of a holiday.

The sale is a significant move away from non-Swiss domiciled funds for CS, but is relatively small in comparison to its overall institutional asset management arm, which has 577 billion francs in clients' cash.

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