LONDON: British insurer Prudential’s top bosses sought to ease shareholder anger over its botched bid for US group AIG’s Asian unit, publishing bumper sales and apologising for the misadventure’s hefty cost.
But Prudential defended the US$35.5bil offer for American International Assurance, which would have made it Asia’s largest foreign-owned insurer.
“We remain convinced we were right to pursue this business opportunity. We feel it was a risk in proportion to the advantage we would have gained,” chairman Harvey McGrath told several hundred shareholders gathered in London yesterday.
Prudential was facing many of its investors for the first time since the Asian takeover bid was pulled last week after a tortuous process that cost £450mil (US$650mil).
“We believe that however regrettable, it was right to pull out. Please believe…how sorry we are that we incurred costs, only to see the deal fall at the final hurdle,” McGrath said.
Earlier, the insurer published a 28% jump in sales during April and May, ahead of 26% growth reported in the first quarter – numbers it said demonstrated the business remained on track despite the Asian distraction.
The group said its strategy remained unchanged. — Reuters
Source: The Star
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