Friends Provident to reveal if there are any takers for sell-offs

Friends Provident chief executive Trevor Matthews will this week reveal whether the ailing insurer plans to continue with the sale of its stake in its F&C asset management and Lombard wealth arms, both of which went on the market earlier in the year.

Just days into his new role at Friends Provident, after six months' enforced gardening leave, the former Standard Life man will use the firm's interim profits announcement to detail whether it has secured any serious bid interest for the two businesses.

It is thought that Mr Matthews could scrap the sale of the units or may even spin out the F&C division, in which it currently has a 52 per cent stake, if there is insufficient interest.

The pair would now probably carry a collective price tag of around £800m – much less than the valuations initially mooted.

Lombard, for which Friends Provident paid £400m three years ago, is believed to be attracting offers a long way short of this price. A deal with Swiss Life is thought to have collapsed in early July, but buyout firm CVC is still understood to be in the reckoning.

Last month Friends Provident said it was abandoning plans to sell its wealth management firm Pantheon Financial after a near- £30m deal with private equity firm AnaCap stalled over the asking price.

It is believed that the management of Pantheon tabled a buyout proposal for the unit in the wake of the collapse, which was vetoed by the acting chief executive and chairman, Sir Adrian Montague.

Sir Adrian is expected to leave the insurer, which is without a permanent chief financial officer following the departure of Jim Smart earlier in the year.

The former Equitable Life chief investment officer, Charles Bellringer, is holding the reins as finance director in the meantime, with a search for a replacement underway. City sources have indicated that former Prudential finance director Philip Broadley may have been approached to fill the position.

Shares in Friends Provident closed up more than 2 per cent on Friday at 86.4p – a substantial discount to the 150p-a- share offer by American private equity group JC Flowers, which was rejected in April.

In a busy week for insurers, Royal & SunAlliance, Legal & General and Standard Life will all issue numbers to the market.