Aberdeen Asset Buys Singapore's City Developments After Plunge

By Hanny Wan

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Aberdeen Asset Management Plc is using the slump in stock markets worldwide to buy City Developments Ltd., Singapore's second-largest property company, whose shares have plunged 44 percent this year.

``Twelve months ago, we were struggling to find value,'' Stephen Docherty, head of global equities at Scotland's largest independent money manager, told reporters in Hong Kong today. ``Now they're everywhere.''

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has retreated 33 percent this year as global economies slowed and institutions posted almost $600 billion in losses and writedowns. Aberdeen hasn't owned U.S. banking stocks for five years, Docherty said.

A surge in market volatility and a contraction in credit led to the failures of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc., the sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America Corp., and the nationalization of American International Group Inc.

The U.S. Senate on Oct. 1 passed a $700 billion financial- market rescue package loaded with inducements for the House of Representatives to approve the measure following its rejection of an earlier version.

Aberdeen manages $220 billion of assets worldwide. The firm, with an Asian head office in Singapore, has more than 130 employees in the region.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hanny Wan in Hong Kong at hwan3@bloomberg.net