The split will leave Prudential as a company focused on Asia, the United States and Africa. It will remain headquartered and listed in London and led by present chief executive Mike Wells. John Foley, who currently heads up the M&G Prudential division, will steer that business through the demerger.
“The decision to demerge M&G Prudential follows a rigorous review by the board which considered all options, including the status quo, and concluded that it is in the best interest of the group to operate as two separately-listed companies, able to focus on their distinct strategic priorities in their chosen geographies,” Paul Manduca, Prudential’s chairman, said.
It came as Prudential announced the sale of a 12 billion pound ($22 billion) UK annuities book to Rothesay Life and posted annual results for 2017, which showed a 6% rise in operating profits to 4.7 billion pounds. That beat market expectations of 4.6 billion pounds.
Asia saw continued strong performance across all profit measures.
New business profit in Asia was up 12% to 2.4 billion pounds, IFRS operating profit up 15% to 2.0 billion pounds and total free surplus generation up 19% to 1.1 billion pounds.
In Singapore, new business profit increased by 22% supported by APE (annual premium equivalent) sales growth of 21%, reflecting growth across both agency and bancassurance channels.
Prudential shares last traded at US$25.10 on Mar 8 in Singapore.
