Prudential's journey east has begun in earnest. The UK-listed financial services group's $21bn rights issue to part fund its purchase of AIA has been priced to be taken up by Asian investors. Shareholders concerned by the ambitious $35.5bn acquisition could seize on the deeply discounted 104p issue to sell some or all of their rights. Demand is unlikely to be a problem: until Prudential's offer, Asian investors were preparing to buy AIA shares directly via an initial public offering. Now they can place a bigger bet on developing Asia's financial services markets. Nor need Prudential fear investor apathy: its cash call, launched into markets gyrating to the dance of Greek contagion, is fully underwritten by Credit Suisse, HSBC and JPMorgan Cazenove. They can always offload shares to the same investors.
保诚集团(Prudential)的东进之旅正式启动。这家英国上市的金融服务集团，为其规模为210亿美元的配股发行制定了亚洲投资者接受的价格——此次配股将为收购友邦保险(AIA)提供部分融资。对保诚雄心勃勃的355亿美元收购计划心怀忧虑的股东，可能利用大幅折让的104便士配股价格，出售其部分或全部持股。需求不太可能成为问题：在保诚出价收购之前，亚洲投资者就准备直接购买友邦首次公开发行(IPO)的股份。如今，他们能够在发展中亚洲的金融服务市场上进行更大的押注。保诚也不用担心投资者缺乏兴趣：它在市场因希腊危机蔓延而上下波动之际进行的筹资活动，完全由瑞信(Credit Suisse)、汇丰(HSBC)和摩根大通嘉诚(JPMorgan Cazenove)承销。这些机构总是能够将股份销售给相同的投资者。