Martin Gilbert's mega-merger just took two big steps closer to the finish line. That finish line is now expected to be August 14, about five months after the deal was first revealed.

On Monday at a special meeting, shareholders of Standard Life and Gilbert's Aberdeen Asset Management [profile] gave their seal of approval to the two Scottish multinational asset management giants' pending merger, the two companies confirmed. And yesterday Aberdeen and Standard Life confirmed that the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also "cleared the transaction unconditionally," leading to the target closing date in August, "subject to remaining regulatory approvals." That's in keeping with initial plans to close the deal by sometime in Q3.

The CMA said that they won't refer the merger for any additional investigation, Reuters reports.

Aberdeen and Standard Life first unveiled their $4.6-billion merger plan in March. The combined company will be branded as Standard Life Aberdeen plc, while the asset management arm will be Aberdeen Standard Life Investments Limited. Gilbert, the still-acquisition-hungry co-founder and CEO of Aberdeen, and Keith Skeoch, CEO of Standard Life, will become co-CEOs of the combined company, which would have more than $800 billion in combined AUM and about 9,000 employees worldwide (though they expect to cut about 800 jobs via a "phased reduction" over the three-year integration period. Bev Hendry, Aberdeen's co-head of the Americas, is expected to become head of the Americas for the combined company. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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