2nd UPDATE: Pru CFO: Most Holders Don't Seek Board Changes

30th Jun 2010 11:28

(Adds detail.) By Vladimir Guevarra Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Prudential PLC (PRU.LN) Chairman Harvey McGrath and Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam still have board support despite the U.K. insurer's failed $35.5 billion bid for the Asian life insurance business of American International Group Inc. (AIG), its chief financial officer said Wednesday. Nic Nicandrou told Dow Jones Newswires that it was business as usual at Prudential following the troubled bid for AIA Group Ltd. and that the majority of shareholders aren't asking for either of the two men to step down. Nicandrou said the board has confidence in McGrath and Thiam and that the company's focus is now on running a successful business. The collapsed AIA offer was followed by persistent reports that some shareholders were privately calling for McGrath and Thiam to resign. Schroders, one of Prudential's 10-largest shareholders, told a U.K. newspaper at the time that "someone at board level should be accountable with the losses associated with this failed deal." Nicandrou, on the sidelines of a Standard & Poor's insurance conference, said, "Our focus is on going back to running a very successful business." "The board, as it has mentioned during the annual general meeting, has reconfirmed its confidence in the management team. The vast majority of our shareholders are not calling for change. So we go back to running a successful business," he said. Prudential's failure to buy AIA cost the company around GBP450 million. "People seem to have lost sight of the fact that last year was a record year for us. And as you've seen from the first five months of this year, we continue to be exceptionally strong. We're back to business as usual," Nicandrou said. McGrath and Thiam sought to pacify angry shareholders at the company's recent general meeting, with apologies for the ambitious-yet-doomed bid that would have transformed their company into an Asian insurance powerhouse. Even so, they insisted that the move had been the right strategy and said the company would keep an eye on the Asian unit's development and its plans for a potential IPO. Prudential had been forced to try to renegotiate the price of the deal after its major shareholders balked at the price and the level of risk involved in the transaction. At 1005 GMT, Prudential shares were down 0.7% at 511 pence, underperforming the Stoxx Europe 600 insurance index, which was up slightly. The shares have lost just over 20% since the start of the year. -By Vladimir Guevarra, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 2078429486, [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 30, 2010 06:28 ET (10:28 GMT)