JC Flowers, the US private equity firm, has made a 175p per share informal offer for Friends Provident and is expected to update the market this week on its approach to the troubled UK insurer, The Times reports.
Ravi Sinha, who runs JC Flowers’ operations in Europe, wrote to Friends Provident’s board shortly before Christmas in an attempt to open talks between the two companies. Mr Sinha is thought to have told Friends that JC Flowers was prepared to put together a formal offer at the 175p-per-share level. It is not known what response he received from the 176-year-old insurer but sources said that the company was likely to be looking for offers above 200p per share. JC Flowers last week built up a 1.8% stake in Friends but is thought to be waiting for the outcome of a strategic review by the ins...
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