Friends Provident is set to offload its stake in F&C to its shareholder base after failing to find a buyer for the asset manager.
F&C has been in the shop window for over a year, with Friends announcing back in January 2008 its 52% stake in F&C did not fit into its revised strategy. Friends says it has held discussions with a number of parties over a possible sale, but discussions have now ended. It means F&C is no longer in an offer period as defined in the Takeover Code. As previously announced, Friends intends to make a pro-rata distribution of its F&C stake to shareholders by mid-2009. F&C welcomes the news, saying the continued uncertainty surrounding its shareholding has had an "adverse impact" on its effo...
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