Prudential sells 2% of ICICI arm for $300M, returns cash to shareholders
What's the deal? Prudential PLCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → on Thursday completed the sale of a 2% stake in Indian asset manager ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co LtdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, raising the equivalent of $300 million. The London-based insurer sold the shares via an open market process at INR3,065 each, around $32.08. It will return the net proceeds to shareholders through a share buyback.
Why now? The sale helps meet India's rule requiring a 15% minimum public float within five years of an initial public offering. ICICI Prudential Asset Management listed on the National Stock Exchange of IndiaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and the Bombay Stock ExchangeDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → on December 19, 2025.
What's the endgame? Prudential's subsidiary Prudential Corporation Holdings LtdDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → retains a 32.6% stake in the asset manager, with unchanged governance rights. The insurer, focused on Asia, keeps its strategic position while meeting the float requirement.
Behind the numbers: The sale followed stronger first-half 2026 results. New business profit rose 9.8% to $1.38 billion from $1.26 billion a year earlier, and adjusted pretax operating profit climbed 10% to $1.81 billion.
Adjusted operating profit after tax rose 11% to $1.52 billion. But IFRS profit after tax fell 27% to $995 million from $1.36 billion, with basic earnings per share down 23% to 37.9 cents.
The interim dividend rose 15% to 8.88 cents per share. Prudential said it is confident of delivering double-digit growth in both new business profit and dividend per share for full-year 2026.
The signal: The disposal shows Prudential trimming holdings to satisfy Indian listing rules while channelling cash back to investors. Shares fell 1.6% to 1,023.00 pence in London on Thursday and closed down 1.5% at HKD109.00 in Hong Kong.
Image credit: ell brown
