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Sainsbury grabs Pru boss
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January 14, 2000: 3:39 a.m. ET
U.K. insurance chief swaps actuaries for groceries, to head supermarket chain
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LONDON (CNNfn) - In a surprise move, the chief executive of Britain's largest insurer resigned Friday, to head the country's second-placed supermarket operator.
Peter Davis was due to step down in two months as head of Prudential plc, retaining the role of chairman at the insurance company. Instead he becomes chief executive of J. Sainsbury, the giant but struggling supermarket chain.
Food price wars in Britain have hit the retail sector hard, and Sainsbury shares have sharply underperformed both the sector and the broader market. Davis will attempt to stop the rot, after a successful period at Prudential during which the shares outran the FTSE 100 index by almost 100 percent.
After a five-year stint in Prudential's top job, Davis leaves the insurer with a market value of 21 billion pounds ($34.5 billion) to join a company valued at 5.85 billion pounds.
Davis's appointment gave an immediate boost to the supermarket firm's shares, which rose more than 1 percent to 308 pence in early London trade. Prudential stock slid 2.5 percent to 1,054 pence.
Davis will replace Dino Adriano, who leaves Sainsbury after 35 years at the company. Adriano had been under increasing pressure following the chain's desultory sales performance, and his role at the company was recently scaled back. Davis will take the top slot on March 1.
Part of the transformation of Prudential while under Davis's command was the successful creation of its Internet banking arm, Egg. Egg has been a tremendous success, prompting the market to reassess Prudential's prospects.
He will attempt to do the same at Sainsbury, which faces ever-tougher competition - not least from the U.K.'s third-biggest food retailer Asda, bought last summer by Wal-Mart (WMT), the world No. 1 in retailing. In recent years Sainsbury lost its rank as Britain's largest grocer to Tesco (TSCO).
Prudential named Jonathan Bloomer, currently Davis's deputy, as his successor. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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J Sainsbury
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