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Bloomer talks up Pru's Asia prospects
Jonathan Bloomer, the embattled Prudential chief executive, yesterday painted an upbeat picture of the insurer's prospects in Asia as he embarked on a week-long visit to the region.
Mr Bloomer, who has stunned the Pru's main investors with a £1bn cash call to cover the cost of an expansion in the UK, has taken about 50 analysts and investors to visit its operations in Malaysia and Vietnam.
While the chief executive was arriving in Malaysia for the start of the tour, the Pru chairman, Sir David Clementi, was arriving back from a business trip in China to face calls from investors for change. Big City investors have begun to bypass Sir David and hold meetings with Rob Rowley, the senior independent director, to voice their concern about the sudden rights issue and decision to embark upon expansion in the UK.
Few institutions have been prepared to make any public comment on their position. Fidelity, which last week admitted it had not yet decided whether it would seek change, said yesterday it had made its views known to the company.
Managers from Fidelity, which orchestrated the ousting of Michael Green from the helm of Carlton a year ago, are thought to have met Mr Rowley, who is expected to inform the Pru board of the outcome of his meetings with a variety of shareholders shortly.
Many investors believe he will tell the Pru that the status quo cannot be maintained and there is speculation that up to 20% of the investor base is not supportive of the board.
Some investors have been meeting the Pru board members in small groups but it is still not clear whether they have agreed upon a single sol ution to appease their anger about the unexpected rights issue. The demands for change at the Pru appear to range from a clearout of the board to the sale of its US arm, which Mr Bloomer once tried to expand through a thwarted takeover of American General.
In a statement to the stock exchange, the Pru said it would be telling analysts and investors on the Asia tour that "it remains confident that the profitable growth being delivered in Asia is sustainable over the long term and that the business remains on track to return cash to the group from 2006".