Prudential Prepares $17 Billion Fund-Management Unit for Spinoff

(Bloomberg) -- Prudential Plc is seeking investors for the U.K. asset-management division that it plans to sell off later this year.

The senior management team of M&G Prudential will present their plans for the standalone business to investors and analysts in London on Wednesday, according to a statement. M&G Prudential, which looked after 321 billion pounds ($404 billion) of client funds at the end of last year, was valued at 13.6 billion pounds in Prudential’s annual report back in March.

Prudential Chief Executive Officer Mike Wells wants to sell the U.K. and European business so that he can focus on the company’s more profitable divisions in Asia and the U.S. The demerger could happen before the end of this year if regulators in the U.K. and Hong Kong approve the separation of the businesses, possibly after Prudential publishes its half-year results in August so investors have up-to-date financial figures.

Prudential didn’t give a timetable for the demerger in Wednesday’s statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Will Hadfield in London at whadfield@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.