UK investment firm Abrdn has been forced to delay a shareholder vote on its £1.5bn takeover of Interactive Investor because of a paper shortage.
Edinburgh-headquartered Abrdn is required by UK takeover rules to send paper documents to its more than one million retail investors.
The asset manager had hoped to hold a shareholder vote on the Interactive Investor deal ahead of its upcoming results.
But international supply issues mean the vote is now likely to take place in mid-March.
The unusual ballot postponement was first reported by Sky News, with an Abrdn spokesperson confirming the paper shortage to UKTN.
Abrdn announced plans to buy online investment platform Interactive Investor last December.
It means Abrdn has become the latest company to be affected by global supply chain issues stemming from labour shortages and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other sectors to have been hit by supply chain woes are automotive and consumer technology, with semiconductors in particularly high demand.
Abrdn was formed in 2017 from the £11bn merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management. It has £532bn in assets under its management and administration.
The company said in December that Interactive Investor’s CEO Richard Wilson will join Abrdn and continue to lead the firm.
Interactive Investor has more than 700 employees and offices in Manchester, London and Leeds.