Prudential is said to seek $12 billion value on India JV listing

Prudential Plc is considering seeking a valuation of about $12 billion for ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. in a potential initial public offering of the Indian unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Prudential may seek to file an initial draft prospectus for the Mumbai IPO as soon as May, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations aren’t public.

Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 13 that Prudential has hired Citigroup Inc. to help work on a possible IPO that could raise about $1 billion. Prudential has said it’s evaluating a listing of the asset management business that would involve a partial divestment of its holding and returning the proceeds to shareholders.

Discussions are ongoing and may not lead to a share sale, the people said.

A representative for Prudential declined to comment while ICICI didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.

ICICI Prudential Asset Management is jointly owned by India’s second largest-private sector lender ICICI Bank Ltd. and UK-based insurer Prudential.