Aberdeen Asset Management has followed through on a pledge to achieve greater scale in the US by purchasing alternatives investor Flag Capital Management.

Flag managed $6.3 billion for institutional and high-net worth investors at the start of this year. Aberdeen has not disclosed what it will pay for the business, although a spokesman described the deal as a "bolt-on" for which chief executive Martin Gilbert intends to issue shares. Gilbert wants to complete the transaction by the end of the third quarter.