Investors turn up the heat in Pru takeover

Shareholders owning up to 15 per cent of Prudential are to turn up the pressure on the insurer by writing to chairman Harvey McGrath outlining their opposition to the £24.6bn takeover of AIG's Asian arm, it was reported yesterday.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th May 2010, 22:26 BST
Updated 27th May 2010, 22:26 BST

The Pru, which needs 75 per cent approval from investors if it is to clinch the deal next month, has been criticised for agreeing to pay too much for AIA, particularly in light of the plunge in Asian markets in the last two weeks.

A report said some of the Pru's biggest institutional investors were poised to write to Mr McGrath in the next 48 hours. They will use their separate letters to ask for an eleventh-hour meeting and to urge him to try and renegotiate the price.

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Mr McGrath said this week that he was confident that the Pru will secure the necessary support for its takeover to go through. "I think the vast majority are very comfortable with the transaction," he said.

The takeover would give Pru around 30 million customers in Asia and see the Asian operation become by far the group's biggest division – contributing around 60 per cent of new business profit.

The insurer has suffered a series of setbacks since it unveiled plans to buy the business from the American insurer in March.

It was forced to delay a 14bn investor cash call being used to finance the takeover after the Financial Services Authority raised concerns about the capital strength of the enlarged company.

Related topics:InvestorsAIGAmerican