Tidjane Thiam: African Star In a Controversial Takeover Bid

An visionary leader by any standard

He has become a bull in a china shop, though he wants to expand the reach of the company he heads. He’s always been one of the shining stars of a continent where opportunities are few, with a lot of graduates being unemployed or working for slave wages. Tidjane Thiam, who’s the first black chief executive of a FTSE 100 company and CEO of Prudential has launched a strong bid to buy AIA, the Asian arm of US-based insurer AIG [ Sponsors of Manchester United FC of England ].

Thiam is rallying Prudential’s shareholders together and asking them to stump up for Britain’s biggest ever rights issue. The deal which will cost £14.5bn has been opposed by some shareholders of the Company which is Britain’s largest insurance company. In a bid to woo investors who are yet to make up their minds, the 11-for-2 right issue has been priced at 104p per share. This is a 39p reduction from the set price last Friday. Thiam’s move is a bit risky in the sense that if he fails, he might lose his position as Prudential’s top man. The good thing about his courageous decision is that if he clinches the deal, he will double Prudential’s size, making it the largest life insurer in the world outside China. This means the British Company will have about 80% of its business in Asia.

However, Tidjane Thiam’s confidence could be dealt a severe blow when shareholders meet to approve the deal on June 7, 2010. The Ivorian will go into the meeting with a grin on his face as Prudential has posted strong figures in the first quarter of this year with group-wide sales reaching £807 million pounds. So much for an intelligent African who was a former Minister of Planning and Development in the West African nation of Ivory Coast. Thiam joined Prudential in 2008 as Financial director, and caused a stir when he was named as the first black Chief Executive of the company a year later. 47 year old Thiam studied in France and he’s married to Annette, An African-American. They’ve got two sons who are passionate Arsenal FC supporters.