UK - Edinburgh Fund Managers has confirmed that it is reviewing its options and that it is in bid talks.

“The Board continues to review its strategic options including discussions which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company,” the Edinburgh-based company said in a statement.

It did not say who it was talking to, though the statement appeared to be prompted by a report in the Glasgow Herald that ISIS Asset Management was in talks to buy EFM. ISIS declined to comment on the report.

Previously the company had said it was reviewing its business strategy and “actively seeking opportunities to dispose of parts of the business which do not match”.

It posted a 57% fall in pre-tax profits for the year to the end of January 2002 to 2.78 million pounds (4.1 million euros) - down from 6.51 million pounds the year before. Assets under management have fallen 42% to 4.1 billion pounds from 7.1 billion pounds.

It said that the decline in assets was due to market conditions and the loss of a 1.1 billion euro mandate for the Edinburgh Investment Trust. And it added that it cut its costs by around 11 million pounds through staff redundancies and the closure of its North American offices throughout 2001 and 2002.

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