Pru signs up heavyweights for reshuffle
By Ruth Sunderland
The Pru has appointed City heavyweights Paul Manduca and Sir Howard Davies to its board in a widely predicted shake-up following its failed £23billion bid for Asian giant AIA.
The arrival of the powerful duo is seen as paving the way for the removal of embattled chairman Harvey McGrath, who was blamed by shareholders for allowing his chief executive Tidjane Thiam to forge ahead with the ambitious takeover attempt in the face of opposition from shareholders.
Anger at McGrath and Thiam has abated somewhat after the Pru reported a strong increase in profits for the first half of the year.
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However, the ill-advised adventure has neither been forgiven nor forgotten. The expectation is that Manduca, 58, will engineer a coup with Davies taking over from McGrath after a decent interval.
Manduca, 58, is one of the Square Mile's best-regarded fund managers and has a reputation for smoothing over difficult succession issues.
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As a non-executive director of supermarket group Wm Morrison he won plaudits for overseeing the appointment of new boss Dalton Philips when predecessor Marc Bolland left for marks & Spencer.
Manduca will be paid £66,500 plus a further £30,000 from January, when he takes over as senior independent director from the longserving incumbent, James Ross.
Davies, 59, is director of the London School of Economics and a former chairman of the Financial Services Authority. He will chair a new group risk committee at the Pru and will be paid £116,500 a year.
Doubt also lingers over Thiam's job. His career at one point hung by a gossamer thread because of his stubborn pursuit of AIA, which cost shareholders £370million in fees.
Investors were also enraged when he tried to take up a post as non-executive director at French bank Societe Generale in the middle of the deal and forced him to turn down the lucrative post.
Thiam's woes grew worse when the former Pru chief executive Mark Tucker, a legend in Asian insurance circles, took the top job at AIA.
Clark Manning, the head of Pru's US business, Jackson National Life, also announced he is stepping down to make way for Mike Wells. Wells will receive a salary of £625,000 but that could rise to £4.5million if he is awarded bonuses.
Manning is said to have wanted to leave for some time but remained in post because of the AIA bid. Shares in the Pru fell by 6.5p to 612.5p.