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Friends Provident plc's new CEO Trevor Matthews is tasked with the job to turn around the struggling British insurer. So what's his plan? Apparently it doesn't involve selling assets, Friends' original strategy before his arrival, according to a Reuters report.
The U.K. insurer had announced plans in January to sell off noncore assets in order to fend off a hostile bid from private equity firm JC Flowers & Co. LLC. When the U.S. buyout firm made an unsolicited offer after life insurer Resolution plc pulled out of a planned £8.7 billion ($17.3 billion) merger with the company in November, Friend's placed on the auction block F&C Asset Management plc, high-end insurer Lombard International Assurance SA and financial adviser Pantheon Financial Ltd. JC Flowers walked away from an acquisition of the company in April. Friends has still not been able to dispose of its noncore assets, particularly due to the lack of buyers in the market willing to pay attractive prices in the financial services sector. Signs that Friends might abandon the assets sales came earlier in the month when it decided to retain its ownership of Pantheon. Friends said that "despite a number of positive expressions of interest, the company believe[s] ... it will not be possible in the short term to achieve a sale price that will realize suitable value for shareholders." Since last July, shares have plummeted from $187.00 to $81.70. - Maria Woehr
See story from Reuters CategoriesPrivate capital video
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