Prudential subsidiary to sell stake in joint venture

10th Nov 2014 11:34

Prudential's UK subsidiary has reached an agreement to sell its 25% equity stake in the Pruhealth and Pruprotect joint venture to Discovery Group Europe.The Prudential Assurance Company (PAC) made the sale for £155m in cash.The transaction will enable Prudential UK to realise its investment at attractive terms while "providing full strategic optionality to re-enter this market in due course", it said.Prudential UK will work with Discovery to ensure a smooth transition and will continue to support the business for a transitional period, it added.Chief executive of Prudential UK, Europe and Africa, Jackie Hunt, said: "Prudential is proud to have built a successful UK health and protection business in partnership with Discovery over the past 10 years. This success has enabled us to divest our stake in Pruhealth and Pruprotect on attractive terms for Prudential's shareholders."The transaction will also give us the strategic and commercial flexibility to consider operating freely in the UK protection market in due course. This would be fully in line with our stated strategy of developing the UK business and leveraging the group's global expertise in risk-focused products."