Prudential plc has increased its exposure to Malaysia’s Orkim Berhad, with its deemed stake rising to just over 6% following additional share purchases by its asset management subsidiaries. A filing with Bursa Malaysia shows that Eastspring Investments Berhad acquired 1,076,200 ordinary shares in Orkim on Jan. 14 through its managed funds. The transaction brought Eastspring’s direct holding to 50,749,400 shares, representing 5.075% of Orkim’s issued share capital. This followed an earlier purchase on Jan. 13, bringing total acquisitions by Prudential-linked managed funds over the two days to 2,370,200 shares. After these transactions, Prudential plc’s total deemed interest in Orkim stands at 61,175,500 shares, or 6.118% of the company.
According to Business Today, Prudential’s deemed interest reflects positions held by Eastspring Investments Berhad’s managed funds and Eastspring Al-Wara’ Investments Berhad’s managed funds, both subsidiaries of the group. Orkim Berhad received the notice of change in substantial shareholding on Jan. 16. For insurance and investment professionals tracking capital flows in the region, the move provides another indication of how multinational life and health groups are allocating assets across Southeast Asian corporates alongside their core insurance operations.
The increase in Orkim comes soon after Prudential’s third-quarter 2025 (Q3 2025) business performance update, which reported higher new business volumes across parts of its Asian franchise. On a constant exchange rate basis, Prudential reported new business profit of $705 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2025, up 13% from the same quarter a year earlier. Annual premium equivalent (APE) sales rose 10% year on year to $1,716 million, while new business margin increased by one percentage point compared with the prior-year period.
Commenting on the results, chief executive officer Anil Wadhwani said: “The momentum of our delivery continues with another quarter of double-digit growth in Q3. This demonstrates the growing strength of our execution resulting in greater consistency of our performance across quarters. Volumes grew and new business margin improved as we continue to prioritise writing high-quality new business. Growth in new business profit through our bancassurance channel and agency channels continued at similar levels to the first half.”
Wadhwani added: “We continue to take actions to strengthen our agency force, with a particular focus on ASEAN markets where we see an opportunity to build on the agency new business profit growth achieved in the markets of Greater China. Focused initiatives cover aspects such as improving agent quality, increasing activation, and enhancing productivity. Alongside these impactful initiatives, we are also driving quality recruitment through our specialist recruitment programme, PruVenture, which produces recruits that have shown higher productivity than other new recruits. In bancassurance, we delivered another quarter of strong growth with good engagement from our partners. Margins continued to be higher than the prior year as our ongoing focus on the quality of new business through this channel delivered results.”
Prudential’s update outlined developments across several Asian life and health markets that are relevant to insurers, reinsurers, and distributors in the region. In Hong Kong, the group reported another period of double-digit new business profit growth compared with the prior-year quarter. Both agency and bancassurance channels contributed, with margins supported by a shift in product mix towards health and protection lines. This strategy increased policy counts but was partly offset by lower average case sizes. In Mainland China, joint venture CITIC Prudential Life recorded double-digit increases in volumes and new business profit in both agency and bancassurance. The business brought forward activity ahead of market-wide repricing changes, underpinned by its partnership with CITIC Bank.
In Indonesia, new business profit declined relative to a strong comparator in the prior year, influenced by civil unrest and a moderation following rapid growth in earlier quarters. However, new business margins in the third quarter were higher than in the first half of 2025, reflecting a tilt in sales towards traditional, higher-margin products, and ongoing development of the bancassurance relationship with Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). Malaysia recorded year-on-year growth in new business profit in the third quarter of 2025, driven by higher volumes. The business also maintained sequential quarter-on-quarter improvement as the local agency channel continued to stabilise after earlier market-wide disruption.
In Singapore, new business profit for the quarter exceeded the prior-year period, supported by double-digit growth in agency APE sales and demand for savings-focused products. Prudential is expanding the Prudential Financial Advisors distribution channel and offering tailored solutions for high net worth customers. Across its “growth markets and other” segment, the group reported double-digit growth in new business profit, with nine of 13 markets showing year-on-year gains in the quarter.
Eastspring, Prudential’s asset management arm, reported funds under management or advice of $286.4 billion as of Sept. 30, 2025, compared with $274.9 billion at June 30, 2025. The increase reflected net inflows of $3.4 billion, excluding money market funds, from both the group’s insurance businesses and third-party clients, along with positive market movements. On the regulatory front, Prudential Corporation Asia Limited, the group’s senior regulated entity in Asia, was designated a domestic systemically important insurer (D-SII) by the Insurance Authority in Hong Kong on Oct. 17, 2025. The group said the designation does not change its business operations or capital management plans.
Prudential also continued its share repurchase programme in the third quarter of 2025, buying back around 20 million shares for $258 million between July 1 and Sept. 30. This brought total repurchases under the current $2 billion programme to 184 million shares, with aggregate consideration of $1,754 million, excluding costs. The group expects to complete the programme by year-end. In India, Prudential and its partners are progressing a proposed initial public offering of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Limited. A draft prospectus has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Indian stock exchanges, and work on the transaction is ongoing.
