Shareholders upset with Thiam's Soc Gen involvement

The insurance group, formerly largest in the UK, has lost its No 1 spot in the UK to Aviva as it attempts to buy AIA (American International Assurance) - the Asian business of American International Group.

"It’s a disgrace." said an investor in Prudential's shares "He can’t do it [the SocGen job]. He has taken on the biggest acquisition and the biggest rights issue we’ve seen in the market in history. The valuation is stretched, revenue synergies are light and unproven and he’s going to have to work hard for the next three years to generate returns. This is not the time."

"Presentation wise this is not the best timing" said one insurance industry analyst.

Last week saw Tidjane embark on a 'charm offensive' as he seeks to gain backing for the deal, requiring a record $21 billion rights issue, with some shareholders feeling he has overpaid.

Prudential played down the commitment to SocGen and said that the time involved in the deal is five days from Mr Thiam's year, although recently the French bank has held over 10 board meetings.

Prudential's share price which dropped sharply from 600 pence after the deal was announced, is currently holding around the 533/2 mark.

"We don’t believe that any FTSE 100 chief executive should be a non-executive at a bank, let alone one based overseas. Yet another said: “I would have thought that one job was enough for the time being." added another to the Times.

Another investor, this time, a Top Ten investor, said:

"Not only is it an utterly extraordinary thing to do, it’s incredibly arrogant. He has only just inherited the chief executive’s job and he has already taken on this huge task of doubling the size of the company.