Friends Provident see falling profits but poised to reject Flowers

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Friends Provident see falling profits but poised to reject Flowers

JC Flowers, a US private equity firm, has put forward a second tentative bid for Friends Provident, thought to value the shares at 150p each.

Its earlier bid, made in January, put a price tag of 175p per share.

The new offer values the firm as a whole at £3.5bn, and prompted an emergency board meeting to discuss the proposal.

The firm has seen its profits fall in recent times, not helped by the turmoil in the equity markets.

On Friday, the day JC Flowers submitted its tentative second offer, the firm’s shares hit 120.1p, the lowest for over four years.

Until then the private equity firm had been thought to be willing to part with £4bn for Friends Provident.

It is speculated that Friends will reject the offer, refusing to discuss details until a firm bid with an offer of close to 200p per share is put forward.

At present, JC Flowers is already the holder of 2% of the firm’s shares.