Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, Scotland’s largest money manager, is in talks to acquire Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s fund management division, said two people familiar with the discussions.

Aberdeen may buy the unit for as much as 100 million pounds ($227 million) as soon as this month, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. The purchase would add as much as $45 billion of assets under management to the US$237 billion ($331 billion) Aberdeen already oversees.

The takeover would be Aberdeen Chief Executive Officer Martin Gilbert’s biggest since he acquired part of Credit Suisse Group AG’s funds unit for 298 million pounds in December 2008. Gilbert, 54, helped found Aberdeen in 1983 and then built the firm through a series of acquisitions, including the purchase of Deutsche Bank AG’s fund management division in 2005.

“The move is a bit of a surprise because Aberdeen had talked about making acquisitions in the U.S. where they are less well represented,” said Gurjit Kambo, a London-based analyst at Numis Securities who has an “add” recommendation on the shares. “The deal is more about getting a cheap price and creating scale, rather than making a strategic acquisition.”

Officials at Edinburgh-based RBS and Aberdeen, based in the Scottish city of the same name, declined to comment. Reuters reported the talks last month.

RBS CEO Stephen Hester, who replaced Fred Goodwin in 2008, is selling units to comply with European Union state aid rules after RBS received 45.5 billion pounds in a taxpayer bailout. The bank is selling or shutting businesses in two-thirds of the 54 countries in which it operates. RBS is also selling its stake in its Sempra commodities trading division.

Separately, RBS said today it won’t sell its stake in its Pakistani unit because it was unable to get the necessary regulatory approvals. MCB Bank, Pakistan’s biggest lender by market value, agreed in August to acquire 99.4% of RBS Pakistan for about US$87 million.