Friends Provident urged to negotiate with JC Flowers

by Gill Montia

Story link: Friends Provident urged to negotiate with JC Flowers

Friends Provident, the life assurer that is currently a takeover target, has entered a new phase of the long-running saga of its courtship by JC Flowers.

Earlier this month, Friend’s chairman Sir Adrian Montague called in the Takeover Panel, which has set a deadline of end April for a formal offer from the US private equity firm.

An indicative offer of 150p a share (valuing the company at £3.5 billion) has been rejected by Friends’ board, with the backing of Scottish Widows, the assurer’s biggest shareholder.

However, according to a report in the Sunday Times, Centaurus Capital, which holds a 3% stake in Friends, is pushing for negotiations to be re-opened, on the basis that the rejected offer is close to an acceptable figure.

Centaurus’ action follows speculation that JC Flowers is willing to walk away from the proposed deal before the Takeover Panel deadline expires, despite reports that it has been in contact with a number of parties that may be interested in buying parts of Friends’ business.

JC Flowers’ financial backers are Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland.