Our Firm
abrdn Investments Limited (“aIL”) is headquartered in Aberdeen, United Kingdom, and is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of abrdn Holdings Limited abrdn Holdings Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of abrdn plc
(“abrdn”). The asset management business of abrdn operates under the name abrdn.
In addition to aIL, abrdn Asia Ltd., and abrdn Inc. are wholly owned subsidiaries of abrdn Holdings Limited.
abrdn ETF Securities Advisors LLC is a wholly owned subsidiaries of abrdn Inc. abrdn Private Equity (Europe)
Limited and abrdn Capital Partners LLP, both based in Edinburgh, Scotland, are also subsidiaries of abrdnplc.
abrdn Investments Limited, abrdn Inc., abrdn Asia Ltd., , abrdn ETF Securities Advisors LLC, abrdn Private
Equity (Europe) Limited, and abrdn Capital Partners LLP (collectively, “abrdn” or “the Advisers”) are
registered as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). In rendering
investment advisory services, the Advisers may share resources, including personnel and facilities, and
research information. The Advisers may also use the resources of other abrdn subsidiaries. The Advisers have
entered into Memorandums of Understanding (“MOU”) and have elected to appoint as associated persons
certain individuals who are employed by affiliated offshore unregistered advisers. These individuals render
portfolio management, research and trading services to the Advisers' clients.
aIL has been registered with the SEC as an investment adviser since 28 March 2012. aIL succeeded to the
registration of its affiliate, Aberdeen Asset Management Investment Services Limited (AAMISL), following
a merger of AAMISL into aIL on March 1, 2012.
Advisory Services
aIL provides its clients with discretionary and non-discretionary asset management and related services across
a broad range of investment strategies and asset classes. Our business is predominantly the active management
of financial assets, using first-hand research to make our investment decisions. Managed asset classes include
equities, fixed income securities, and real assets, as well as multi-manager research, selection and portfolio
management for hedge funds strategies (“Hedge Funds” or “Alternative Investment Strategies”).
We may also serve as a manager of managers, in which circumstance we hire sub-advisers to provide day-to-
day securities selection. We are responsible for selecting sub-advisers and determining the portion of a fund’s
assets to be allocated to each sub-adviser. Additionally, we offer solutions that can blend our abilities across
different asset classes to provide tailored investment outcomes to meet specific client needs. See Item 8
(Methods of Analysis, Investment Strategies and Risk of Loss) for additional information regarding our
advisory services.
Our investment expertise is delivered through both segregated and pooled products – allowing us to serve a
range of clients from institutions to private investors. We offer investment advisory services with regard to
investments in both domestic and global securities to a variety of clients, insurance products, and pooled funds,
including investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940
Act”). We provide a variety of asset management capabilities, including:
• managing or sub-advising various open-end or closed-end investment companies registered under
1940 Act;
• offering professional money management services for separately managed accounts, which include
providing continuous advice to clients based on individual needs concerning the investment of funds
and related activities including, but not limited to trading, and cash management;
• providing investment services to international open-end and closed-end funds, collective investment
trusts, and various private or institutional mandates sourced globally;
• offering investment services to certain limited partnerships and similar private funds;
• offering segregated and pooled vehicles focusing on European, or other global property mandates;
• offering global and regional fund of funds products (hedge fund, private equity, venture capital, real
assets and property);
•
offering model investment portfolios that can be bought through sponsor firms; and
• customizing solutions for clients, including but not limited to those seeking specific exposure or
risk/return characteristics within their alternative investment allocations.
Tailoring Services to Client Needs
We typically manage client accounts on a discretionary basis; however, we will manage client accounts on a
non-discretionary basis subject to client instruction.
We make investments for clients in accordance with mutually agreed upon written investment guidelines and
provide continuous supervision of client portfolios. Investment services may be tailored for each client’s
specific needs and objectives, and clients may impose reasonable restrictions on investing in certain securities
or types of securities. We have established procedures and controls to help ensure compliance with each
client’s specific investment guidelines and any client-imposed restrictions.
Where we are the investment adviser to a pooled investment vehicle, investment objectives, guidelines and
any investment restrictions are not typically tailored to the needs of individual investors in those vehicles, but
rather are described in the prospectus or other relevant offering document for the vehicle. The advisory or sub-
advisory fee is subject to negotiation and is fully disclosed to clients. Upon request, clients may also receive
investment advice on a more limited basis through advisory or consulting-like services, including advice on
isolated areas of concern such as special projects or a specific topic. Clients wishing to engage abrdn for
consulting services will be required to enter into a written agreement and may be subject to certain fees and
conditions.
We may, sometimes , enter into “side letter” agreements with certain prospective or existing investors
(including investors affiliated with abrdn) granting them, among other things, fee waivers or reductions, future
capacity rights in a fund, interests or shares having different voting rights or restrictions, reduced minimum
subscription amounts, additional rights to reports and other information and
other more favorable terms than
the terms that are described in the relevant offering memorandum. The funds that enter into these arrangements
have no obligation to offer such differing or additional rights, terms or conditions to all interest holders, and
abrdn may or may not offer similar differing or additional rights, terms or conditions to other clients in
customized discretionary accounts it manages or to non-discretionary accounts to which it provides investment
advice. In rare instances where abrdn is provided with enhanced portfolio disclosure from other managers
(including potentially material non-public information concerning the portfolio holdings of an underlying fund
pursuant to a confidentiality agreement with the underlying fund or its manager), abrdn will not be able to
share information concerning such holdings or information or the fact of the existence of such a confidentiality
agreement with advisory clients unless specifically authorized to do so by the underlying fund or its manager.
The relevant disclosuers regarding markets, risks, strategy, benchmarks, fees, expenses and other investment
details will be detailed in the offering memorandum of the vehicle
Model Delivery UMA/SMA
aIL may participate as an investment manager in Separately Managed Account programs (“SMAs”) sponsored
by third party firms (the “Sponsor”) including single and dual contract SMAs. The investor contracts with the
Sponsor or Registered Investment Adviser (“RIA”) in a single contract SMA. In dual contract SMAs, the
investor contracts with the Sponsor and aIL as investment manager.SMAs are offered by non-affiliated
Sponsor entities and may involve strategies of other outside managers in addition to our own. In these
arrangements, abrdn provides investment management services on a discretionary basis to that client in
accordance with one or more model portfolios selected by the client. The Sponsor would typically perform the
trades for Sponsor clients in SMA’s, but the investment manager may do so based on investment strategy or
in order to seek best execution, which may result in additional fees to clients. The Sponsor typically has primary
responsibility for client communications and service, but we are available to the client for consultation.
Additionally, aIL provides non-discretionary investment advice whereby aIL provides investment
recommendations in the form of a model portfolio to a Sponsor or overlay manager which then utilizes all or
part of the model in managing its clients’ accounts. Model delivery programs are often referred to as Unified
Managed Accounts (“UMAs”). In these arrangements, abrdn does not place trades or exercise trading
discretion for the client accounts.
In such programs, the Sponsor typically charges the client a comprehensive fee, inclusive of the advisory fee
charged by aIL together with the fee for all other services being provided by the Sponsor. The Sponsor
generally executes client portfolio transactions on behalf of abrdnand provides custodial services for the
client’s assets. Except for execution charges for certain transactions executed away from the Sponsor, clients
pay a single, all-inclusive (or “wrap”, “Wrap programme”) fee charged by the Sponsor based on the value of
the client’s account assets for asset management, trade execution, custody, performance monitoring and
reporting through the Sponsor. The wrap fee often, but not always, includes the advisory fees charged by aIL
and other participating managers through the program.
The Sponsor typically assists the client in defining the client’s investment objectives based on information
provided by the client, aids in the selection of one or more investment managers to manage the client’s account,
and periodically contacts the client to ascertain whether there have been any changes in the client’s financial
circumstances or objectives that warrant a change in the management of the client’s assets. In certain Wrap
Programs, the Sponsor contracts with other investment advisers to perform these services. In a Wrap Program,
the Sponsor pays the investment advisers, such as aIL, a fee based on the assets of clients invested in the
applicable strategy in the Wrap Program. In certain cases, aIL may instead be paid fees based on the size of
the total Wrap Program assets under management. aIL may retain a portion of the Wrap Program fee when it
participates as manager in Wrap Program arrangements.
Wrap fee accounts and other client accounts following a strategy with the same name managed by the same
portfolio management team may be managed differently. For example, the Sponsor or client may impose
investment restrictions or administrative requirements upon us in managing accounts that could cause those
accounts to be managed differently from other client accounts in the same strategy managed by the same
portfolio management team that were not subject to those restrictions or requirements. For example, if a Wrap
Fee Program sponsor or client imposes investment restrictions on an account which prohibits investment in a
security that is held in the selected strategy, the security may not be replaced with a directly comparable
security and the client’s account may be overweight other positions or hold a larger cash position than other
clients in that strategy.
Not all strategies managed by aIL are available in such programs. A portfolio constructed for a model delivery
or SMA account may differ from how the same strategy is constructed for our other accounts. For example,
we may use an affiliated registered investment company to purchase locally traded securities, where ADRs are
not available (known as a “Completion Fund”). ADRs are generally used in model delivery/SMA programs as
local lines of a security generally cannot be traded in those programs.
Please also see the “Fees and Compensation” and “Brokerage Practices” items of this Brochure for more
information on differences between wrap program arrangements and other types of client accounts.
Assets under Management
As of December 31, 2023, aIL had approximately $180 billion in assets under management (AUM) on a
discretionary basis, and approximately $3.1billion in assets under advisement on a non-discretionary basis,
and total assets under management/advisement of approximately $183billion.