Page 50 - Articulate Files

The acquisition ticked many boxes for Standard life but at

the last moment a counter bid from a third party, the Pearl
Group, emerged which drove the price to a level which

Standard life was not willing to pay. Share price had fallen

on the prospect of the bid but immediately after Standard

Life’s withdrawal it rebounded. In one sense, this could be
seen as an endorsement of Crombie’s decision not to pay

over-the-odds for the acquisition and that he had returned

to course but with an open mind and enhanced experience

for the future.

The jewel-in-the-crown for Standard Live was its
investments business, SLI. It was Crombie who set it up and

saw it develop into a fully fledged business. He appointed

Keith Skeoch to bring intellectual rigor to the business whilst

changing the firm’s mind-set from local to global and where
performance was the yardstick of success.

When Crombie was appointed Group Chief Executive in

January 2004 Skeoch took over as Chief Executive of SLI. The
measure of SLI’s success lies in the growth of new pension

fund management business that SLI has attracted from

outside Standard Life. In 1999, third-party funds were £6bn

and by 2007 they stood at close to £47.7bn the vast majority
sourced from UK clients - the remainder coming from

overseas. In 2007 SLI made pre-tax profits of £100m and an

ebit (earnings before interest and taxation) margin of 30%.
The performance of SLI based on its operational and

cultural norms acts as a beacon for the rest of Standard Life

to emulate.