Friends Provident (FP) may soon be up for sale, according to rumours on the corporate grapevine.

Executive chairman Sir Adrian Montague, is reportedly thinking of selling the entire business.

He is in the process of a strategic review, which is expected to be completed soon, which followed the collapse of a proposed £8.4 billion merger with Resolution.

The difficulty in raising £600 million to help fund new business growth seem to have prompted the move and the sale of its 53 per cent stake in fund manager F&C Asset Management could make Friends more of a an attractive proposition for any suitor.

Companies rumoured to have an interest in buying Friends include Zurich Financial Services, Old Mutual, Italy's Generali and Axa.

A spokeswoman for Friends told IFAonline: "They’re ruling nothing in and nothing out. It’s far too early to make any assumptions about what they will be doing.”

Shares in the insurer have started to drift upwards on news of the proposed sale with Deutsche Bank putting an estimate on their worth of 195p to any prospective bidder.

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