Prudential PLC, country’s second largest insurer, hired Nick Prettejohn from Lloyd's of London as chief executive of its UK operations. He will replace Mark Wood and assume position from January 1, 2006. This is part of a management restructuring being carried out by Mark Tucker since he took over as CEO of Prudential in May.
Tucker replaced Jonathan Bloomer who was given the sack after a controversial 1 billion pound rights issue and his inability to find a buyer for Prudential’s 79 per cent stake in online bank Egg PLC.
Prettejohn served in Lloyd's of London as chief executive since 1999. He will take up his position on the Prudential board on Jan 1. Luke Savage will come in for PretteJohn as CEO of Lloyd's of London. He is currently serving as the insurance market's finance director.
Prettejohn was reportedly instrumental in steering Lloyd's toward a profitable year even as the world's biggest insurance market incurred 1.4 billion pounds in losses owing to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Before Lloyd's, Prettejohn was a partner at Bain & Co., a management consultants group and a director at buyout firm Apax Partners Worldwide LLP. Currently, his pay at Lloyds is supposed to be 1.19 million pounds. An Oxford graduate and a former management consultant, Preetejohn has no experience, however, in the UK life and pensions sector. He is taking over the company at a key stage of its development of UK business.
According to Tucker, (Prettejohn has) ``a track record of implementing strategic change successfully and will bring a fresh, external perspective'' to Prudential's business.
Lloyd's Chairman Peter Levene said: ``I am extremely sorry to lose Nick as a close and valued colleague''.
In the wake of the news, Prudential’s shares fell by 0.5 pence, or 0.1 percent, to 486 pence at 8:42 a.m. in London.
Both Prudential and the Lloyd's of London declined to issue any comments on this matter.
Wood was reportedly not disappointed at getting the top spot after Jonathan Bloomer was sacked. So his departure was seen as fait accompli by some industry analysts.
Posted
on : Mon, 17 Oct 2005 18:20 GMT | Business News
By : Rob Davis
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