The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Oil boss Keiller joins panel to grill Scots entrepreneurs
and supporting
Mr Keiller was revealed as the new chairman of quango Scottish Enterprise earlier this month. He will take over the role of current SE chairman Crawford Gillies on January 1 – the day after he leaves the Aberdeen-
entrepreneurs.” energy services firm he has led for the past three years.
Mr Keiller also plans to set up his own new business aimed at supporting social enterprises across Scotland on a notfor-profit basis. It will be primarily focused on “putting something back” and inspiring other people, he said, adding it would involve consultancy work, mentoring and public speaking.
Historically, the Scottish Edge competition was run by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise alongside various partners. Last year, serial entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter and RBS agreed to extend the success of the fund and lead its delivery, creating a £5million-plus fund along with the Scottish Government.
RBS chipped in £2.5million to the fund, while £700,000 came from the Hunter Foundation, a charity set up in 1998 by businessman Sir Tom Hunter and his wife, Marion, to support educational and entrepreneurial projects. Aberdeen Asset Management is set to reveal job cuts to reduce costs in the face of emerging markets pressures.
Martin Gilbert, chief executive of the fund manager, said none of the roles for the chop would be specialist investment staff.
He added that many of the roles would be surplus to requirement after the firm’s £550million acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (Swip) in 2013.
Aberdeen, which employs about 2,485 people added 500 from Lloyds Banking Group in the deal.
Aberdeen, a top-three European asset manager, has been affected by turmoil in emerging markets and is expected to reveal further outflows and cost-cutting measures at its annual results presentation on 30 November.
Mr Gilbert said: “No
“Affected by turmoil in emerging markets”
investment roles will be touched but we will look to do more in terms of controlling our costs.
“Following the 12-18 months integration of Swip, a small number of roles are now surplus to requirements. People retiring over the next few months will also not be replaced.”
ButMr Gilbert said he remains intent on further acquisitions in an effort to diversify its business away from its reliance on Asian markets.
So far the firm has made four moves on small firms, including Advance Emerging Capital (AEC), a Londonbased investment manager specialising in emerging and frontier market funds; ArdenAsset Management, which has offices in New York and London; and US private equity specialist Flag Capital Management.