LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) – Prudential <PRU.L> will publish
a prospectus for its $21 billion rights issue in late April,
sources familiar with the situation said, giving insight into
the insurer’s landmark AIG deal that is dividing investors.

The prospectus is expected to come a few weeks before the
British group asks shareholders to approve its $35.5 billion
takeover of AIG’s <AIG.N> Asian operations, the sources said.

LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) – UK fund firm Gartmore <GRTR.L>
suspended a top fund manager on Tuesday as it probed a breach of
internal procedures, sending shares plunging to almost half the
level at its initial public offering three months ago.

In a statement, Gartmore said Guillaume Rambourg, a close
colleague of Gartmore’s most high-profile fund manager Roger
Guy, was suspended pending the outcome of an internal
investigation into whether he had been “directing trades”.

LONDON, March 30 (Reuters) – Major investors in Forth Ports
Plc <FPT.L> have backed its decision to reject an approach from
a trio of shareholders and hold out for a higher bid.

Top investors who met the management last week told Reuters
they had encouraged the group to engage with the consortium of
would-be buyers to arrive at a “sensible price”.

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) – F&C Asset Management <FCAM.L>
dropped its bid for Austria’s C-Quadrat <C81.DE> after the
British fund firm’s largest investors urged it to focus on
improving share value, a source close to the fund firm said.

F&C said on Friday it had decided not to proceed with its
potential offer for the Vienna-based fund manager, which
specialises in quantitative funds of funds and multi-asset
products, just three days after submitting offer documents.

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) – Two top ten shareholders in
Arriva Plc <ARI.L> said suitor Deutsche Bahn AG [DBN.UL] should
offer considerably more than Arriva’s current share price to
reflect the strategic value of the British transport group.

Deutsche Bahn revealed the preliminary takeover approach
earlier this week, after market talk of a 700-pence-a-share bid,
but neither it nor Arriva disclosed an offer price.

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) – Institutional investors such as
pension funds, which pulled out of equity and hedge fund-like
products during the financial crisis, are showing signs of a
robust return as risk appetite grows.

The trend is a fillip for fund houses, but fund chiefs
expect the landscape to evolve to give little room for so-called
“core” products which aim for only a modest outperformance at
extra cost.