LONDON (Reuters) - Insurer Prudential has raised the tempo of the auction
for its stake in Britain's largest Internet bank Egg, saying it has received
further bid interest.

"Prudential has now begun a process that will give a number of potential
purchasers an opportunity to make a proposal. This may or may not lead to a
transaction," it said in a statement on Monday.

Analysts and bankers have touted Royal Bank of Scotland RBS.L , HSBC HSBA.L
, U.S. credit card giant MBNA and Lloyds TSB LLOY.L as possible bidders.

All of the companies have declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Prudential PRU.L said it was in talks to sell its 79
percent holding in Egg, triggering a 58 percent surge in the loss-making
bank's shares.

A spokesman for Prudential said a potential bidder had initially come
forward about buying Egg after Prudential said in October it was looking for
a strategic partner for the bank's faltering French operations.

"As those preliminary discussions continued, other parties came in. There
are a number of parties we are now going to be talking to," said the
spokesman, declining to comment on how many or which companies had expressed
an interest in Egg.

A spokeswoman for Egg EGG.L declined to comment.

Analysts and dealers have said a potential bidder could pay in the region of
180 to 200 pence a share for Egg, valuing the company at between 1.5 billion
and 1.6 billion pounds and giving Prudential a near 1.3 billion pound cash
injection.

A deal announcement is not expected for some weeks.

Shares in Egg were down 1.77 percent at 185-1/4 pence in morning trade,
valuing the group at around 1.5 billion pounds. The shares hit a peak of
197-2/3p last week but have retraced some of those gains over the past three
days.

Prudential, Britain's second-largest insurer, was trading down 1.61 percent
at 490-1/4p in a flat general market.

EGG UNDER THE HAMMER

Of the British banks, BNP Paribas analyst Hugh Pye said Egg would fit
particularly well with Royal Bank of Scotland's operations.

"I don't think it would be of interest to Barclays, HBOS and HSBC; it
doesn't fit into their retail strategy.

"I think the concept fits more comfortably with Royal Bank. It has tended to
be much keener on a multi-brand strategy, and bringing in another credit
card business would not be a problem."

Egg, which has over three million UK customers and five percent of the UK
credit card market, remains in the red because of its struggling French
business.

Profits at Egg's main British operation more than doubled to 20 million
pounds in the three-months to end-September, while the French business lost
20.8 million pounds in the same period.


--
Michal 'Amra' Macierzynski
! Ankieta dla klientow bankow wirtualnych !
http://www.prnews.pl/ankieta.htm

do góry

>Profits at Egg's main British operation more than doubled to 20 million
>pounds in the three-months to end-September, while the French business lost
>20.8 million pounds in the same period.

Zatem brytyjski egg przynosi zyski tylko fracuski oddzial ich ciagnie w dol.

dn

do góry

English is very nice and friendly language. In my opinion, you should send
that post to eg. gov.topic.finance.banks or translate it into polish ;)

Best regards,
Adam Gentler


Użytkownik "Michał 'Amra' Macierzyński" napisał (zacytował) w wiadomości:

> LONDON (Reuters) - Insurer Prudential has raised the tempo of the auction
> for its stake in Britain's largest Internet bank Egg, saying it has
received
> further bid interest.
>
> "Prudential has now begun a process that will give a number of potential
> purchasers an opportunity to make a proposal. This may or may not lead to
a
> transaction," it said in a statement on Monday.
>
> Analysts and bankers have touted Royal Bank of Scotland RBS.L , HSBC
HSBA.L
> , U.S. credit card giant MBNA and Lloyds TSB LLOY.L as possible bidders.
>
> All of the companies have declined to comment.
>
> Earlier this month, Prudential PRU.L said it was in talks to sell its 79
> percent holding in Egg, triggering a 58 percent surge in the loss-making
> bank's shares.
>
> A spokesman for Prudential said a potential bidder had initially come
> forward about buying Egg after Prudential said in October it was looking
for
> a strategic partner for the bank's faltering French operations.
>
> "As those preliminary discussions continued, other parties came in. There
> are a number of parties we are now going to be talking to," said the
> spokesman, declining to comment on how many or which companies had
expressed
> an interest in Egg.
>
> A spokeswoman for Egg EGG.L declined to comment.
>
> Analysts and dealers have said a potential bidder could pay in the region
of
> 180 to 200 pence a share for Egg, valuing the company at between 1.5
billion
> and 1.6 billion pounds and giving Prudential a near 1.3 billion pound cash
> injection.
>
> A deal announcement is not expected for some weeks.
>
> Shares in Egg were down 1.77 percent at 185-1/4 pence in morning trade,
> valuing the group at around 1.5 billion pounds. The shares hit a peak of
> 197-2/3p last week but have retraced some of those gains over the past
three
> days.
>
> Prudential, Britain's second-largest insurer, was trading down 1.61
percent
> at 490-1/4p in a flat general market.
>
> EGG UNDER THE HAMMER
>
> Of the British banks, BNP Paribas analyst Hugh Pye said Egg would fit
> particularly well with Royal Bank of Scotland's operations.
>
> "I don't think it would be of interest to Barclays, HBOS and HSBC; it
> doesn't fit into their retail strategy.
>
> "I think the concept fits more comfortably with Royal Bank. It has tended
to
> be much keener on a multi-brand strategy, and bringing in another credit
> card business would not be a problem."
>
> Egg, which has over three million UK customers and five percent of the UK
> credit card market, remains in the red because of its struggling French
> business.
>
> Profits at Egg's main British operation more than doubled to 20 million
> pounds in the three-months to end-September, while the French business
lost
> 20.8 million pounds in the same period.
>
>
> --
> Michal 'Amra' Macierzynski
> ! Ankieta dla klientow bankow wirtualnych !
> http://www.prnews.pl/ankieta.htm
>

do góry

Dnia Thu, 29 Jan 2004 14:25:23 +0100, Adam Gentler <a...@n...bankier.pl>
napisał:

> English is very nice and friendly language. In my opinion, you should
> send
> that post to eg. gov.topic.finance.banks or translate it into polish ;)
>
> Best regards,
> Adam Gentler

In my humble opinion, You should really consider cutting quotations :)

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