Walter Scott & Partners, the Edinburgh-based fund management company, is to be acquired by Mellon Financial of the US. The Edinburgh firm was founded 23 years ago. Walter Scott and Partners employ just 60 people but have around £14.3 bn in fund under their management. Scott is extremely publicity shy, refusing to allow even his staff to be photographed. But Scott - who got a doctorate in nuclear physics at Cambridge before going into finance - is renowned in the business world for doing his deals in a kilt. Around 90 per cent of the firm's clients are based in the US and Canada and include corporate and public sector pension funds, charities, foundations and a bit of balance sheet money for large corporations.