How embarrassing. Prudential's ambitious $35.5bn acquisition of AIA, the Asian assets of state-owned US insurer AIG, descended into chaos yesterday. The UK company unexpectedly delayed its planned $21bn rights issue and interim management statement. Instead it offered investors 268 words of explanation and deal justification – and six times as many of backside-covering disclaimers. Although in its missionary zeal Prudential appears to have garnered outline approval from most of the 15 Asian regulators involved, it has yet to convince its home regulator, the Financial Services Authority. The latter is rightly concerned about the enlarged group's capital position and whether, in an emergency, UK-based Prudential could count on AIA capital trapped in, say, Thailand. The concerns have delayed the deal, yet Prudential insists they will not derail it. Investors may disagree.
真是令人尷尬！英國保誠集團(Prudential)以355億美元收購友邦保險(AIA)——美國國有保險公司美國國際集團(AIG)旗下的亞洲資產——這一雄心勃勃的計劃，昨日變成一場鬧劇。這家英國公司意外推遲了210億美元的配股發行，並推後發佈一季度中期的管理層聲明。相反，它向投資者提供了268個字的解釋和交易說明——其長度是許多檔案背面免責聲明的6倍。憑藉傳教士般的熱情，保誠似乎獲得了15個相關亞洲國家大部分監管機構的原則同意，但它還需要說服本國監管機構——英國金融服務局(FSA)。後者擔心擴大後保誠集團的資本狀況，以及在緊急狀況下，這家總部位於英國的公司能否指望得上友邦保險的資本（比如說該公司在泰國的資本），這種擔心在情理之中。它已經導致交易推遲，不過保誠堅稱它不會讓交易夭折。對此，投資者可能存在不同看法。