Moody's Investor Service Inc., (Moody's) has said that the June 1 agreement between General Motors (GM) and Prudential Insurance Co. (Prudential) to provide income annuities for GM white-collar pensioners is a credit negative for the Newark, NJ-based financial services company.
The deal was thought by industry experts to be an augury, with many other companies looking to make similar deals albeit not of the same magnitude.
When asked last week if more deals like the GM one were anticipated, Prudential CEO John Strangfeld matter-of-factly answered, "Yes." Strangfeld then went on to say Prudential would be doing more of these deals adding, "It is the shape of things to come" and that there would be "more of this to follow." Strangfeld was responding to reporters' questions on June 7, during a press conference for the Geneva Association, an international insurance think-tank, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
