Aberdeen hires ex-SL Capital exec for US boost

Aberdeen Asset Management has hired a former SL Capital Partners investment professional and promoted a senior director to co-head in its US private equity team.

Whit Matthews joined the firm as a senior investment manager in its Boston office, according to a statement. Matthews spent more than seven years at Standard Life’s fund of funds unit where he most recently focused on primary and secondaries investments in mid-market buyout funds.

Aberdeen also promoted John Dickie who will work with Scott Reed to co-lead the US private equity team, based in Boston. Dickie was a principal focusing on mid-market investments at FLAG Capital Management and joined Aberdeen when it acquired FLAG last year.

The high valuation environment meant investors have to work hard to find opportunities which can be found at the smaller end of the market, Graham McDonald, head of private equity, said in the statement.

“That involves a lot of scrupulous homework and having skilled people on the ground who can navigate the less efficient segments of the landscape,” he said.

Aberdeen is preparing to ramp up its secondaries business amid an expected rise in deals fuelled by macroeconomic volatility, the firm’s head of secondaries Collin Burrow told sister publication Private Equity International in August.

The firm, which has 38 global offices and employs 50 professionals in its private equity team, managed £301 billion ($401 billion; €356 billion) in assets as of 30 June, according to the statement. This includes $32 billion in alternative assets.