Prudential Securities Gets $365-Million Boost From Parent

Prudential Insurance said Tuesday that it is injecting another $365 million in capital into its troubled Wall Street subsidiary, mainly because of the mounting cost of settling with customers who invested in Prudential Securities’ risky limited partnerships.

The latest contribution pushes Prudential Insurance’s investment in the brokerage past $2 billion, including the $381 million it paid for the Wall Street firm in 1981. But Prudential Insurance said it remains the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Arthur F. Ryan that the brokerage unit is not for sale.

Charles Perkins, spokesman for Prudential Securities, declined to elaborate on reasons the firm needed more cash.

But the infusion comes as claims by customers on a settlement pool set up under an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission have shot up in advance of a Jan. 10 deadline.

Joel F. Brenner, a lawyer supervising the SEC pool, said the number of new claims has soared to 3,000 a week from 1,500. The total number of claims filed is now more than 152,000.

The pool so far has made settlement offers to customers totaling more than $472 million.

The new capital will also cover the costs of cutbacks in two Prudential Securities’ businesses: mortgage-backed securities and its Japanese operations.

“This capital infusion allows Prudential Securities to enter 1995 positioned to regain overall profitability,” Ryan said in a written statement.