Prudential investors to question rebuff of Aviva bid
Prudential Plc's investors will quiz its senior management over its decision to rebuff the £17 billion bid from Aviva Plc, owner of Norwich Union.

Insurer Aviva is also planning to get support from Prudential's investors for its bid in the next few days and Aviva's executives are discussing future moves, which could include an increase in the offer price of 700 pence a share. One insider said a full range of options was being discussed, although he played down the chance of the bid turning hostile.

The offer could remove other bidders, including the French insurer Axa and US company AIG from the scene.

The bid talk has sent Prudential's shares higher.

Aviva's offer was at a premium of 10 per cent above Prudential's closing share price the previous day and was described by a Prudential adviser as "miserly."

Prudential's shares closed at 672 pence on Friday, their highest level for almost four years and were driven 11 per cent higher in two days as rumours of the takeover spread.
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Zurich American in $171 million settlement case over bid-rigging case
The US subsidiary of Zurich Financial Services AG, the biggest Swiss insurer, has agreed to pay $171 million to nine states in the country to settle allegations of bid rigging and price fixing.

The Texas attorney general said the Zurich American Insurance Group submitted fake quotes for commercial insurance policies and brokers steered contracts away from companies that refused to participate in the plan.

He said the whole anti-competitive scheme was an intentional smoke screen by several insurance players to artificially inflate premiums and pay improper commissions to those who brokered the deals.

The settlement comes after New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer began investigations into illegal business practices in the insurance industry in 2004. He has been able to obtain guilty from at least 17 insurance company executives and obtained eight indictments.
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