Sir Adrian Montague, chairman of Friends Provident, defended the life assurer’s handling of a £3.5bn proposed offer from JC Flowers, withdrawn two weeks ago in a move the US private equity group blamed on Friends’ refusal to hold talks.

Sir Adrian said the 150p-a-share proposal, falling to 144.7p after shareholders lost the right to receive the final dividend of 5.3p, was “not at a level that required us to engage”.