Prudential plcĀ is a BritishĀ multinationalĀ insurance company headquartered inĀ London, England. It was founded in London in May 1848 to provide loans to professional and working people.[3]Prudential has dual primary listings on theĀ London Stock ExchangeĀ andĀ Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of theĀ FTSE 100 Index.[4]Ā It also has secondary listings on theĀ New York Stock ExchangeĀ andĀ Singapore Exchange.The company was founded inĀ Hatton GardenĀ in London in May 1848 as The Prudential, Investment, Loan, and Assurance Association and in September 1848 changed its name to The Prudential Mutual Assurance, Investment, and Loan Association,[5]Ā to provide loans to professional and working people.[3]Ā In 1854, the company began selling the relatively new concept of industrial branch insurance policies to the working class population for premiums as low as one penny through agents acting asĀ door to door salesmen. The army of premium collection agents was for many years identified with the Prudential as the “Man from the Pru”.[3]Ā It moved to its traditional home atĀ Holborn BarsĀ in 1879 and converted to aĀ limited companyĀ in 1881.[3]Ā The building was designed byĀ Alfred Waterhouse, and is built of terracotta manufactured byĀ Gibbs and Canning LimitedĀ of Tamworth (c.1878) ā two of the same driving forces behind theĀ Natural History MuseumĀ in London.[6]
Twentieth century[edit]
The company was first listed on theĀ London Stock ExchangeĀ in 1978.[7]
In the mid-1980s, financial deregulation allowed financial institutions to own estate agencies and Prudential decided to follow early market entrants such asĀ Provident Financial Group plcĀ (Whitegates) andĀ Lloyds BankĀ (Black Horse Agencies),[8]Ā in the Summer of 1985 by purchasing a long established and successful Huntingdon-based firm of estate agents; Ekins, Dilley and Handley for Ā£12 million.[9]Ā This was originally supposed to be an experiment allowing the company a new route to market for mortgage-linked endowment policies, however after many other financial institutions followed suit, Prudential rapidly started to embark on an acquisition trail which would quickly see it become market leader in terms of number of offices.[10][8]Ā Acquisitions includedĀ Chestertons ResidentialĀ and Earl & Lawrence in August 1986,[11]Ā Edward Bailey & Son in January 1987, The Channel Island Estate Agency Property Shop in February 1987, and Rogers & Clark in May 1987.[12]Ā This was however done at great cost and despite the cost of established a new estate agency branch being in the region of Ā£75,000-Ā£100,000, Prudential paid Ā£125 million collectively for 337 of its branches; an average cost per branch of Ā£371,000.[13]
In 1986, Prudential acquired the American insurerĀ Jackson National Life.[14]Ā In the same year, amongst many other acquisitions, Prudential Property Services acquired the fifty-two strong chain ofĀ Reeds RainsĀ for Ā£24 million.[15][16]
The collapse of the housing market in the south of England in 1989 brought about a slump in income at Prudential Property Services which during the first half of 1990 lost Ā£23 million. Prudential had been closing branches, with 100 closing between December 1988 and May 1990. The announcement of these losses saw another 175 branches closed in July 1990. In May 1991 Prudential sold the remainder of the chain for a total of Ā£13.5 million, representing a 90% loss on the cost of acquisition. Some branches were purchased by their original owners for fractions of the amount they had sold to Prudential for just a few years earlier.[13]Ā For example the Prudential Property Services office in Hanwell was originally an independent agency, purchased by Prudential for Ā£200,000: it was subsequently sold off to Rolfe East Estate Agents for Ā£1.[17]Ā The western division of Prudential Property Services was sold toĀ Scottish WidowsĀ to join theirĀ Connells Estate AgentsĀ chain. The northern division[17]Ā was sold in a Ā£3.4 million management buyout reverting to the name, Reeds Rains,[15][16]Ā the south east division was sold to become Arun Estates,[17]Ā and Chestertons and another region was sold to theĀ Woolwich Property Services.[18][19]
In 1997, Prudential acquired Scottish Amicable, a business founded in 1826 inĀ GlasgowĀ as the West of Scotland Life Insurance Company, for Ā£1.75bn.[20]
In 1998, Prudential set upĀ Egg, anĀ internet bankĀ within the UK. The subsidiary reached 550,000 customers within nine months but had difficulty achieving profitability.[21]Ā In June 2000, an initial public offering of 21% was made to allow for further growth of the internet business but in February 2006 Prudential decided to repurchase the 21% share of Egg.[22]Ā Egg was subsequently sold to Citibank in January 2007.[23]Ā In 1999,Ā M&G, a UKĀ fund managementĀ company, was acquired.[24]Ā In June 2000, the company was first listed on theĀ New York Stock ExchangeĀ to help focus on the US market.[25]
Twenty-first century[edit]
In February 2002,Ā ChurchillĀ bought Prudential’s general insurance business.[26]
In October 2004, Prudential launched a new subsidiary,Ā PruHealth, a joint venture with Discovery Holdings of South Africa sellingĀ private medical insuranceĀ to the UK market.[27]Ā In April 2008, Prudential outsourced its back office functions toĀ Capita: about 3,000 jobs were transferred (1,000 inĀ Stirling, 750 inĀ ReadingĀ and 1,250 inĀ Mumbai).[28]Ā This significant outsourcing deal, worth an estimated Ā£722m over a 15-year contract, built on Prudential’s existing relationship with Capita who took over itsĀ BelfastĀ operation in 2006 along with approximately 450 employees in a smaller operational restructure.[29]
On 1 March 2010, Prudential announced that it was in “advanced talks” to purchase the pan-Asian life insurance company ofĀ AIG,Ā American International AssuranceĀ (AIA) for approximately Ā£23Ā billion.[30]Ā The deal later collapsed and AIA ended up raising money in an IPO.[31]
In December 2013, Prudential announced the purchase of Ghana’s Express Life Company. Express Life was subsequently rebranded as Prudential Ghana.[32]Ā In April 2014, Prudential launched two corporate responsibility initiatives to support education in Ghana: the Prudential Scholarship Programme for more than 500 senior high school students, in partnership with the NGO Plan Ghana; and a scheme to support actuarial science graduates.[33]Ā In September 2014, Prudential purchased Kenyan life insurer Shield Assurance and rebranded it as Prudential Kenya, further expanding the company’s presence in Africa.[34]Ā Prudential has since entered six other African countries ā Uganda in 2015, Zambia in 2016, Nigeria in 2017, Cameroon, Cote dāIvoire and Togo in 2019.[35]
On 10 March 2015, it was announced that the CEO,Ā Tidjane Thiam, would leave Prudential to become the next CEO ofĀ Credit Suisse.[36]Ā On 1 May 2015, it was announced thatĀ Mike Wells, head of the company’s US business, would succeed Tidjane Thiam as CEO, on a pay package worth up to Ā£7.5 million.[37]
In August 2017, it was announced that Prudential was to combine its asset manager, M&G, and Prudential UK & Europe to form M&GPrudential.[38]
In November 2017, Prudential announced the change in the name of its joint venture with Chinese investment company CITIC to “CITIC Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited”.[39]
In March 2018, Prudential announced that it would demergeĀ M&GPrudentialĀ from the Group;[40]Ā the demerger was completed on 21 October 2019.[41]
In August 2020, Prudential announced that it would fully separate Jackson from the Group. The demerger was completed on 13 September 2021.[42]
