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.
真是令人尴尬！英国保诚集团(Prudential)以355亿美元收购友邦保险(AIA)——美国国有保险公司美国国际集团(AIG)旗下的亚洲资产——这一雄心勃勃的计划，昨日变成一场闹剧。这家英国公司意外推迟了210亿美元的配股发行，并推后发布一季度中期的管理层声明。相反，它向投资者提供了268个字的解释和交易说明——其长度是许多文件背面免责声明的6倍。凭借传教士般的热情，保诚似乎获得了15个相关亚洲国家大部分监管机构的原则同意，但它还需要说服本国监管机构——英国金融服务局(FSA)。后者担心扩大后保诚集团的资本状况，以及在紧急状况下，这家总部位于英国的公司能否指望得上友邦保险的资本（比如说该公司在泰国的资本），这种担心在情理之中。它已经导致交易推迟，不过保诚坚称它不会让交易夭折。对此，投资者可能存在不同看法。