Pru trying to talk FSA round on rights issue

PRUDENTIAL bosses were believed to be holding top-level talks with the Financial Services Authority last night as time begins to run out for the insurer's planned $35.5 billion (£23.5bn) acquisition of AIG's Asia arm.

The Pru's chairman Harvey McGrath and chief executive Tidjane Thiam are understood to have met the City regulator's chief executive Hector Sants to try to break the deadlock on the company's 14bn rights issue to part-fund the deal. The company was forced to delay details of the pricing of the issue on Wednesday after the FSA raised concerns the previous night about its capital backing following such a transformational deal.

It is understood that Thiam told Sants he believed Prudential would have the necessary financial strength after the deal, and that sharply increased revenue streams from Asia would also add to that capital cushion.

The FSA and Prudential declined to comment. McGrath and Thiam, who has been in the job less than a year, are widely seen as the architects of the takeover of AIG's American International Assurance.

Adding to regulatory woes, world markets continued to tumble yesterday, leaving the Pru to finalise its rights issue amid market volatility.