Royal & SunAlliance is set to admit that its forthcoming rights issue is needed to boost funds of the group's US business due to the financial damage caused by environmental and asbestos claims.
The Financial Times reports that the future of financial director Julian Hance will be questioned following the rights issue as analysts are unhappy that R&SA is seeking more funds from its shareholders.
The company's financial advisers are undecided whether to appeal for £700m or a figure up to £1bn following yesterday's 4% increase in share prices to 144p.
Half of the proceeds are set to go towards strengthening the insurers US business. The remaining funds will be used to develop the rest of R&SA's businesses operating in the UK, US and Scandanavia.
