Pioneer's 3.5 bln euro price tag too much for Aberdeen -Bloomberg

Nov 21 (Reuters) - Aberdeen Asset Management (Frankfurt: 899502 - news) 's chief executive said Italian bank UniCredit (EUREX: DE000A163206.EX - news) had priced its Pioneer fund unit too high at 3.5 billion euros ($3.7 billion), prompting the British firm to drop a takeover bid, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

Martin Gilbert said the firm was through to the second round, but "couldn't quite afford" the price tag, Bloomberg reported. http://bloom.bg/2g8IfLp

Gilbert told Reuters last week that Aberdeen had bid for Pioneer, but had decided not to proceed.

"I think we felt we weren't going to win so it was better to withdraw graciously," Gilbert told Reuters.

Reuters reported this month that UniCredit had received four binding offers for Pioneer, including from a consortium led by Italy's post office, France's Amundi (Berlin: 350155.BE - news) , Australia's Macquarie and U.S.-based Ameriprise Financial (Frankfurt: A0F55S - news) , valuing the business at more than 3 billion euros.

UniCredit, which is reportedly aiming to take a final decision on the buyer by Dec. 10, is looking to sell the asset manager and other businesses to boost its stretched capital.

Pioneer is Europe's sixth-largest asset manager with assets under management of around 225.8 billion euros.

Aberdeen did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment on Monday, while a spokeswoman for Pioneer said the company did not comment on market rumours.

($1 = 0.9405 euros) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Stanley Carvalho in Dubai; Editing by Susan Fenton)