Prudential Private Capital history

Prudential Financial was founded in 1875 as the Prudential Friendly Society by the insurance agent John Fairfield Dryden.

In 1881, when Blanchard died, the directors finally elected John Dryden president by one vote.

In 1896, the company's advertising department created Prudential's long-standing logo and slogan: the Rock of Gibraltar accompanied by the words, "The Prudential has the strength of Gibraltar." Both were chosen to express the solidity of the products the company offered.

The company's image was further bolstered by the outcome of a New York state legislative committee investigation under Senator William W. Armstrong in 1905.

Prudential expanded to neighboring states, and, in 1909, opened its first international branch in Toronto, Canada.

When Dryden died in 1911, his son, Forrest Dryden, followed him as president.

Then, as a result of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, Prudential paid over $20 million for flu-related deaths.

By the time he resigned in 1921, company totals exceeded $5.6 billion, an increase of $3.6 billion in ten years.

The group sales department was the brainchild of Edmund Whittaker, an actuary who had joined the company in 1928, and who conceived of actuaries as the "engineers of insurance."

Prudential began its long association with Singapore in 1931 with the opening of a branch office in Raffles Square, which later became the headquarters of Prudential’s Malaya Branch, and sub-offices were soon established in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang.

Shanks had joined Prudential in 1932 and was known for his unorthodox methods.

By 1939, new net business in the overseas life branches was rivalling the success of the UK business, and Prudential’s international business continued to grow rapidly through the latter part of the 20th century.

In 1948, the first regional sales office in Los Angeles boosted revenue in that region by 20 percent.

In 1951 Prudential's district agents voted to go on strike, the first formal job action by a white collar union in the nation.

After 1958, Prudential ceased to buy bonds in the market and instead negotiated separate loans with corporations for higher rates on which the corporations received more rapid, less costly, and more flexible financing.

When Shanks retired in 1960, the Prudential board named Louis R. Menagh, Jr., as chief executive officer.

The strategy was successful; by 1962, the life insurance industry averaged a return of 4.4 percent on all invested assets.

In 1968, it established PIC Realty Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary that owned and leased commercial real estate through joint ventures with established real estate developers.

In 1973 Prudential formed Prudential Reinsurance Company, insuring other insurance companies against extraordinary losses.

1976 Hanbro Life Assurance Ltd. of Britain is acquired.

The company’s private foundation has been helping to close the financial divide through strategic grant-making since 1978.

In 1979 Prudential signed with Sony Corporation to form Sony-Prudential to sell life insurance in Japan.

The October 1987 panic on the market cost Prudential $1 billion in paper value and marked at least a temporary end to runaway leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and massive mergers and acquisitions.

In November 1990, Prudential-Bache announced that it was cutting back on its investment banking operation by about two-thirds, having made the decision to reorganize the firm to focus on its strengths in the retail brokerage business.

1991 Ball resigns from Pru Bache as losses total more than $250 million amid lawsuits relating to selling real estate limited partnerships.

In response to the negative publicity, Prudential retreated behind a shield of secrecy, but with probes into the limited partnerships by state securities regulators expanding, the company accepted various settlements, including public censure in 1992.

In 1994 Prudential Corporation Asia was established in recognition of the high potential for growth in Asia.

The investigation, concluded in 1996, and involving regulators from 45 states, assessed Prudential a $35 million fine and set up a restitution plan for 10.7 million policyholders.

Real estate divestitures began in 1997 with the sale of the company's property management unit and its Canadian commercial real estate business.

About 55 percent of the company's earnings came from the sale of insurance, which grew by 21 percent in 1998, while 45 percent came from its investment and securities businesses.

Also in 1999, Prudential began rapid global expansion; early that year, it opened a mutual fund company with Mitsui Trust & Banking Co. in Japan, acquired a license to open an office in Poland, and launched new insurance companies in Argentina and the Philippines.

With more than 50 000 employees in more than 20 countries, Prudential Financial is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.

Prudential becomes a public company on December 13, the first NY Stock Exchange IPO after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.

The company stood as the third-largest provider of adviser-sold variable annuity products in the United States upon completion of the purchase. It also pledged to cut nearly $600 million in expenses and achieve 12 percent return on equity (ROE)--a measure used to analyze operating performance--by 2005.

The company's assets in June 2006 were $568 billion.

As a result of Prudential's strong capital position, the company does not seek funds from the Troubled Asset Relief (TARP) in the aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis.

PALAC is not licensed to do business in New York, effective December 31, 2015.