Prudential PLC yesterday announced a rights issue to raise £14.5 billion (US$20.9 billion) to help finance its US$35.5 billion acquisition of the Asia-based life insurer AIA Group.
The announcement had been expected last week but Prudential was delayed by questions raised by the Financial Services Authority, the UK financial regulator.
Prudential shares fell 5 percent to 515 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.
Prudential is offering 11 shares for every two existing shares in the company at an issue price of 104 pence (or HK$11.78 for shareholders in Hong Kong and Singapore).
The company said yesterday that the issue price represented a 39 percent discount based on Friday’s closing price of 542.5 pence.
Prudential also said it plans debt financing to raise US$5.4 billion and AIG, the bailed-out US insurance company which is selling AIA, has offered a standby commitment to subscribe to up to US$1.9 billion of that financing.
In a separate trading update, Prudential reported record new business sales of £807 million in the first quarter, a 26 percent increase from a year earlier. New business profit was up 27 percent to £427 million.
“We have the team, the skills and the discipline to successfully integrate these businesses and achieve the targets we have announced today,” said group chief executive Tidjane Thiam, for whom the deal looms as a make-or-break career moment.
“We believe that, through capital management and portfolio rationalization, there will be opportunities for the combined entity to create additional shareholder value over and beyond the revenue and cost synergies identified,” he said.
The British Financial Services Authority has refused to discuss its concerns on the deal, but Prudential said it had agreed with the regulator on future supervision of the enlarged group, “including on the capital that it will be expected to hold.”
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS