STANDARD Life Investments (SLI) is poised to more than quadruple the size of its growing wealth management arm with the acquisition of a £3.5 billion business, a report said yesterday.

SLI is said to be in exclusive talks to buy the wealth management division of Newton Investment Management, the fund management group founded by former Edinburgh fund manager Stewart Newton and now part of US bank BNY Mellon.

The deal is said to be worth up to £90 million. The business was put up for sale two months ago and SLI was reported to be immediately among the bidders, along with Rathbones and the wealth manager Quilter Cheviot, which is owned by private equity group Bridgepoint. SLI manages £158bn and its wealth division topped the £1bn mark last year.

Standard Life Wealth has been a key driver of performance for the Edinburgh giant, which reported in August that it continued to build a strong presence in the IFA market, with net flows into its higher margin propositions more than doubling to £390m. Flows in the last quarter were up by 95% to £572m.

The business recently appointed David Driver as managing director, reporting to chief executive Richard Charnock, who has led the pursuit of Newton.