Prudential IPO May Be 4th-Biggest Ever

Prudential Insurance Co. of America estimated Monday that its initial public offering could raise as much as $3.9 billion, which would make it the fourth-biggest first-time stock sale in U.S. history.

The No. 2 life insurer’s board approved the plan to go public last December. The Newark, N.J.-based company filed for the IPO under the name Prudential Financial Inc., listing Goldman, Sachs & Co. and its own Prudential Securities Inc. unit as underwriters.

“It’s a large brand-name IPO so it ought to attract interest,” said Tom Bastian, a portfolio manager at Eagle Asset Management.

The last big IPO, the spinoff of Agere Systems Inc. (AGR/A) by Lucent Technologies (LU) Inc. last month, hasn’t performed well in the current distressed stock market. Agere went public at $6 a share and closed Monday at $5.18.

Prudential said the IPO is planned for the fourth quarter of this year.

Prudential Financial plans to sell 89 million common shares, giving public investors a stake of about 16%, according to the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The price of the shares was left blank for now, and the offering’s $3.9 billion value was given only as an initial estimate. An IPO that size would displace Goldman Sachs as the fourth-biggest U.S. IPO, behind AT&T; Wireless Group, United Parcel Service Inc., and Conoco Inc.

Prudential Financial plans to list the shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol PRU.