AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France--Prudential PLC (PUK) Chief Executive
Tidjane Thiam said Sunday the group was well on track to meet its
profit target for 2013 in Asia, as the region's solid economic
growth rides over global woes.
"We are ahead on every matrix, we will double profits in four
years," Mr. Thiam said on the sidelines of a conference in
Aix-en-Provence, Southern France.
"We are accelerating our growth in Asia with a focus on
South-East Asia--our sweet spot, as we describe it," he said.
Prudential, the U.K.'s largest insurer by market value, said it
would double its profits in Asia between 2009 and 2013, where it
has a strong presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,
Hong Kong, Vietnam and Philippines.
The group has also been expanding in the U.S., where in May 2012
it took over Swiss Re's (SRENH.VX) U.S. life insurance business for
$621 million.
"I have always been very clear that we want a balance between
variable annuity and fixed annuity businesses. The acquisition we
made is really aimed at rebalancing the business," said Mr. Thiam.
"From time to time, as the variable annuity business grows larger
and larger, we will have to make some of these acquisitions."
The group will however remain very "selective" on potential
future deals, said Mr. Thiam.
"Organic growth in Asia is very strong, so we don't need to do
deals to grow," he said.
Mr. Thiam declined to comment on recent media reports that
Prudential had placed a bid for the life insurance joint-venture of
the CIMB Group and Aviva PLC (AV) in Malaysia.
-Write to Noemie Bisserbe at noemie.bisserbe@dowjones.com