Pru needs new leaders to stimulate share price: de Blonay

Jupiter's Guy de Blonay has joined the growing condemnation of Pru's Harvey McGrath and Tidjane Thiam, calling for new leadership after the failure to acquire AIA.

The manager, who runs the £1.2bn Jupiter Financial Opportunities fund alongside Philip Gibbs, says the new leaders must have "a clear strategy to stimulate the share price". Gibbs was a long-standing investor in Pru, but offloaded his stake after the insurer announced plans to buy AIA. "The inability to put the deal through has shown some weakness," de Blonay told Bloomberg. "There's clearly a capability issue emerging." Neptune's Robin Geffen, who led the investor rebellion against the AIA deal, was more critical of existing Pru management. "They really have shown complete cont...