(Bloomberg) — Prudential Plc shares are beginning to trade more in Hong Kong as business there ramps up following Covid-19, according to the insurer’s interim chief executive officer.
(Bloomberg) — Prudential Plc shares are beginning to trade more in Hong Kong as business there ramps up following Covid-19, according to the insurer’s interim chief executive officer.
“We’ve started to see a greater appetite from Asian investors to invest in the company,” Mark FitzPatrick said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Wednesday.
The majority of stock trading still takes place in London, where the company was founded about 175 years ago, but Prudential is seeing a “fairly modest” shift into Hong Kong markets following a share placing there in 2021. About 40% of Prudential’s shares are owned by UK investors, so the shift will be “a multiyear process,” said FitzPatrick.
It’s the latest sign of Prudential’s shift toward Asia and Africa, having spun off its UK and US operations over the past few years — a refocusing that left it more exposed to the restrictions imposed during the outbreak of Covid.
The increase in activity between China and Hong Kong following the recent relaxing of travel curbs is “going to run and build in the course of this year and going into next,” he said. “It’s a brave person that’s going to bet against Hong Kong. It’s an amazingly resilient market.”
FitzPatrick, who became interim CEO last year upon the retirement of Mike Wells, is looking forward to handing the reins to Anil Wadhwani next month. “It’s absolutely right that Prudential has an Asian CEO to take the business forward because that’s effectively who we are,” he said.
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