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Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen Asset Management, is on the lookout to snap up rival fund management groups during the current financial markets turmoil.
Aberdeen is still completing its £250 million takeover of Credit Suisse's asset management business which will see the Swiss bank take a 25% stake in Aberdeen by the end of June.
Gilbert said: "This is a once in a generation opportunity for consolidation in the sector. For once there are far more sellers than there are buyers. There's nothing imminent as far as we are concerned but we are continuing to look for opportunities."
He said Credit Suisse, which will become the firm's largest shareholder, was "extremely supportive of our strategy - as are our other major shareholders."
At the same time Gilbert is keen to keep costs under control and today increased his target for savings by £20 million to £97 million, most of which will come from "straightforward good housekeeping and tidying up."
He said this could mean further job cuts "but we are not talking huge numbers."
Gilbert expects financial markets to remain challenging for some time to come.
The Aberdeen boss said: "We are probably seeing the end of the really bad news and are now bumping along the bottom. What we are seeing is people switching their money away from bank deposits to safe yield stocks like the oil majors and HSBC."
During the first half of its financial year, Aberdeen saw a major outflow of funds from its fixed income business and modest inflows to its equity and property businesses.
New business won during the first six months halved from £10.8 billion to £5.4 billion.
Funds under management dropped by 13% to £96.3 billion between the end of September and end of March.
Headline profits fell 30% to £33 million and the first-half dividend is being held at 2.43p a share.
