Prudential To Sell Reinsurance Division

Prudential Corp. PLC agreed Tuesday to sell its Mercantile & General reinsurance subsidiary for a surprisingly high $2.69 billion.

Britain’s No. 1 life insurer, which is not related to Prudential Insurance Co. of America, sold the business back to Swiss Reinsurance rather than in a public stock offering as initially planned.

Analysts had expected Prudential would raise about $1.5 billion by selling stock to the public.