"Life insurer Friends Provident fell 3.4 to a five-year low of 123.6p on continuing speculation that JC Flowers, the US private equity house, is struggling to find the funding for a potential break-up bid. JC Flowers, which owns 2.7pc of Friends, is understood to have made an indicative offer in the region of 175p a share. The firm is thought to be in discussions with a group of banks about securing funding for a possible takeover."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/03/05/cxmktrep105.xml