Prudential share price: M&G unit eyes Dublin expansion after referendum

Prudential’s (LON:PRU) fund arm M&G is looking at expanding its operations in Dublin after the UK voted to leave the European Union, Reuters has reported. In a separate development, analysts at Barclays have reiterated their bullish stance on the blue-chip insurer, arguing that the recent selloff represents an opportunity.

Prudential’s share price has rallied in today’s session, having added 3.65 percent to stand at 1,234.00p as of 13:36 BST, outperforming the benchmark FTSE 100 index which is currently 2.09 percent better off at 6,268.75 points. The Pru’s shares have lost just under a fifth of their value in the year-to-date, as compared with a 0.42-percent rise in the Footsie.
Reuters reported today that M&G Investments, the fund arm of insurer Prudential, was looking at expanding its operations in Dublin in the wake of the Brexit vote. Under current rules, asset managers need an EU base to sell investment funds to continental retail investors, although the rules under which UK-based managers will access European clients post Brexit have yet to be clarified.

The newswire quoted M&G as saying that work was well-advanced in putting in place legal structures in Ireland and Luxembourg which would give it operational options, but that no funds or personnel were in the process of relocating. A spokeswoman told Reuters that Dublin was currently the firm’s preferred option, with any final decision depending on the outcome of talks between the UK and the EU over the terms of Brexit.
In other Prudential news, Barclays reiterated its ‘overweight’ rating on the group today, arguing that the insurer was a “strong high quality business” whose “double digit growth story is intact”.
“We view Prudential as the one true large-cap growth stock in European insurance, and the compound growth of its earnings is the tangible evidence,” the analysts were quoted as saying, adding that they believed that the recent selloff in the Pru was an opportunity to buy the “best in class insurer at an attractive valuation”.
As of 14:13 BST, Wednesday, 29 June, Prudential plc share price is 1,235.75p.