Prudential to raise US$2.9bn to invest in Asia and Africa

Prudential is currently gearing up to raise $ 2.9 billion in Hong Kong. These funds will be applied towards the completion of a review of its US business earlier, as well as offsetting existing debt and making investment moves in Africa and Asia.

The life insurance firm has indicated that part of its strategy to achieve this is to sell up to 130.8 million shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a quarter of which will be available through a public offering.

The London-listed company explained that its equity issuance revenues will help to “maintain and strengthen Prudential’s financial flexibility, given the openness of investment opportunities for growth in Asia and Africa.”.

Of the stated amount, US$2.25 billion has been earmarked to redeem existing high-interest debt, while the balance will simply help bolster the liquidity of the group.

The positive long-term effect that Prudential hopes the current moves will bring is to increase its customer base to 50 million customers in these regions by 2025. The firm’s half-year review revealed that it had 17 million customers in Asia and Africa.

Though first announced in January, the funding effort is now expected to kick off after the completion of the insurance firm’s long-term restructuring. 

Prudential plans to fix a public offering price on or before September 25, but the current cap for the public offering is set at HK$172 ($22.09).