Prudential Financial Inc , the No.2 U.S. life insurer, has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to advise on its possible bid for ING Groep NV's Asian insurance operations, South Korean media reported, in what is potentially Asia's second-biggest insurance sale ever.The Korea Economic Daily said small local insurer Korea Life Insurance Co Ltd was also looking into a takeover bid for all of ING's Asian insurance assets, citing unnamed industry sources.Korea Life, which is already vying with Prudential for local peer Tong Yang Life Insurance Co Ltd, said earlier this month that it was reviewing the feasibility of bidding for ING's Asia-Pacific insurance operations.Investment banks are competing hard for a role in the deal and a cut of an estimated $60 million in combined deal fees, according to consultancy Freeman & Co.
Prudential Financial, Inc. is a financial services company. Shares of PRU fell by 1.42% or $-0.85/share to $59.00. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $42.45 and as high as $67.52. On average, 3957940 shares of PRU exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2774222.
Source
