Aberdeen Asset Management’s private equity team spins out to form Maven Capital Partners

Bill Nixon, current head of investment at Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity, has led the buy-out with senior executives Andrew Craig, Jock Gardiner, Stella Panu, Bill Kennedy and Andrew Ferguson joining him in forming Maven.

The investment strategy will continue to focus on private company investments and the management of client funds, including seven Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), and Maven will continue to manage funds on Aberdeen’s behalf.

The full back-office team that currently supports the Aberdeen and other third-party client funds is also moving to Maven.

At Aberdeen, private equity was a stand-alone and largely autonomous division. In the five years from 2004 the team built a specialist private equity and VCT business with a significant fund base, becoming recognised as one of the UK’s most active SME investors, with around £54m ($63m) of VCT client funds invested in 29 new private company transactions during that time.

The Maven team also manages the £30m (€35m) Capital for Enterprise Fund A, having been appointed by Capital for Enterprise Fund Managers to jointly run this initiative as part of the Real Help for Business programme. The Capital for Enterprise Fund is one of the measures introduced by the government to bridge the current funding gap that many UK small and medium enterprises are experiencing as a result of the credit crisis.

Bill Nixon, managing partner of Maven Capital Partners, said, “We’d like to thank Aberdeen for its support in building our business to its current position of strength and have very much enjoyed our time as part of the group. The opportunity has now arisen to acquire the business and become an independent private equity fund manager, which is a natural evolution for the team more in line with current industry practice. We are also very pleased that the entire Aberdeen private equity investment and support function across the UK has joined Maven, allowing us to secure the services of some very experienced colleagues to help manage and grow the business. We look forward to the future under our new brand with great enthusiasm.”

Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, added, "I am delighted that Bill Nixon and his team have taken the opportunity to undertake a buy-out of Aberdeen's private equity business. In common with current industry practice, the management team will now have a majority stake in their new business, thereby aligning their long-term interests with those of their clients and investors, and I am very pleased that Aberdeen will be retaining a significant minority stake in the new business. Bill and his team have run a very successful private equity operation for many years within Aberdeen, and they leave with our thanks and very best wishes for the future."

Maven will focus on the UK’s lower mid-market, will manage roughly £160m (€186.8m) of capital that the team previously managed at Aberdeen, and will operate from offices in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London.

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