Prudential's $35.5bn bid to buy AIA, the Asian insurance arm of AIG, was on the verge of collapse last night, with some investors calling for chief executive Tidjane Thiam to quit after he failed to renegotiate the deal.
AIG's board went against the view of Robert Benmosche, chief executive of the US state-owned financial group, and voted 10-2 against a proposal to cut to $30.375bn the price paid for AIA. Instead, it favoured resurrecting plans for a partial sale of AIA in an Asian stock market listing.
Prudential said it was “considering its position” but AIG's rejection has, in effect, killed a deal investors holding as much as 20 per cent of its shares had signalled they would not support in a vote on June 7 unless the price was renegotiated.