UK - London-based asset manager, Old Mutual has boosted its assets under management by 31% following the acquisition of Skandia of Sweden.

The company ran £239bn (€352bn) as at the end of December compared with £182bn at the end of 2005.

Almost all the growth came via acquistion. New business accounted for just £244m of the asset growth and almost one-third of new business came from Old Mutual’s original market, South Africa.

Profitability was down sharply, however, with basic earnings per share down from 25.1 pence to 17 pence.

Operating earnings per share also fell, by 18% to 15.1 pence.

Apart from Skandia, Old Mutual announced it would buy Ashfield, a San Francisco based boutique with $3.1bn under management.

Old Mutual already owns or has a stake in Clay Finlay; Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss; Rogge and Acadian amongst others.