Manduca is persuaded to take the chair at the Pru

Prudential has ended its five-month hunt for a new chairman by appointing the board member who was initially charged with leading the search.

Paul Manduca at first ruled himself out of the process but was subsequently invited to put his name forward as a candidate to replace Harvey McGrath.

The Pru’s senior independent director, who handed over responsibility for the search to fellow board member Lord Turnbull, has sat on the board since October 2010, having founded Threadneedle Asset Management in 1994 and been chief executive at Rothschild Asset Management and Deutsche Asset Management.