NU Online News Service, March 24, 2005, 9:50 a.m. EST
A large British insurer is replacing its chief executive officer.[@@]
The insurer, Prudential P.L.C., London, says Mark Tucker will be succeeding Jonathan Bloomer as chief executive May 5.
Bloomer has been chief executive at the British Prudential, which has no ties to Prudential Financial Inc., Newark, N.J., since 2000.
Bloomer has increased profits at the British Prudential, but some shareholders have been angry about his failure to complete an acquisition of American General Corp., Houston, that was proposed in 2001; a move to cut the company's dividend in 2003; and a move in 2004 to raise more than $1 billion by selling rights to existing shareholders to buy more shares.
Tucker has been the group finance director at HBOS P.L.C., Edinburgh, Scotland, a home mortgage lender, since May 2004. But Tucker worked at the British Pru from 1986 to 2003, and he was a senior vice president at a major U.S. unit, Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Lansing, Mich., from June 1992 to November 1993. When Tucker left in 2003, he was chief executive of a Prudential unit in Asia.
Bloomer issued a statement emphasizing the fact that the company's core businesses have been reporting strong profits.
"We have had to manage the company through difficult times, and not everything has made us popular, but my job has been to lead a transformation, and Prudential is now set fair to deliver further substantial growth and returns," Bloomer says in the statement. "Obviously I am extremely disappointed with the board's decision, but I wish them all the best."
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