News that China’s Ping An Group is mulling a bid for Prudential's operations in Asia has had tongues wagging over the past few days.
Some investors clearly see such a deal as a credible possibility. The London-listed insurer’s share price jumped by as much as 5% on Wednesday and Thursday when news of the potential merger spread, before paring those gains on Friday as stock markets globally sank.
Yet any takeover appears far from certain. Indeed, a spokesman for Prudential told FinanceAsia's sister title AsianInvestor last week that it had received no formal offer and embarked on no discussions. ...