Last year the UK's Prudential paid ￡503m in dividends; this year it will pay almost as much in fees for a deal that didn't happen. Yesterday's disclosure of a ￡450m bill for the cack-handed attempt to buy AIA surely threatens the positions of Tidjane Thiam, chief executive, and also chairman Harvey McGrath. For the same money M&G, Pru's funds arm, could have bought Gartmore or F&C Asset Management, or for that matter, any company below the FTSE 350. Hell, the group could have taken a 2 per cent stake in AIA in the now-likely IPO.
去年，英國保誠集團(Prudential)派息5.03億英鎊；而今年，它將為一宗半途而廢的交易支付幾乎同等的費用。保誠為收購友邦保險(AIA)的愚笨企圖需開出4.5億英鎊賬單——昨日曝光的這一消息，無疑會威脅到集團首席執行官迪德簡?蒂亞姆(Tidjane Thiam)和董事長韓偉民(Harvey McGrath)的地位。用這筆錢，保誠旗下的基金公司M&G可以買下英國資產管理公司Gartmore或F&C資產管理公司(F&C Asset Management)，甚至是任何一家富時350指數成本股公司。真見鬼，保誠本可以用這筆錢在目前看來很有可能的AIA首次公開發行(IPO)中獲得2%的股份。