Stephen Bird, CEO of Abrdn who led the company through its rebranding to become known by the series of letters, has stepped down after four years in the job.
The global investment firm, which manages and administers £508 bn of assets including a sizeable real estate investment management business, said its CFO would take the helm temporarily until a permanent replacement is found.
The fund management firm was formerly known as Standard Life Aberdeen and changed its name to abrdn in July 2021. Bird said at the time he was excited to have reached the milestone. He arrived at the company to try to tun around its fortunes.
The company is currently in the midst of a cost transformation programme to arrive at more acceptable profit levels.
Bird has taken steps to reduce headcount and abrdn's range of funds and expanded into mass-market investing through the takeover of online platform, interactive investor, for £1.2 bn in 2022.
He has reportedly pitched the board the possibility of selling abrdn's underperforming investments arm. When questioned on the matter in January this year, he told reporters the company had tested every scenario but was focused on keeping and restoring that business.
At the end of April, the company announced the sale of its European-headquartered private equity business to Patria Investments for up to £100 mln. It has also sold its private equity business in North America as it looks to reshape.
Global head of real estate is Anne Breen, who was appointed in May 2023 to replace Neil Slater, who is now at Redevco.
