For a pair of zombie-fund operators, Pearl’s fight for Resolution is certainly full of life. Normally, a takeover battle for a closed-book life assurer would not have kept the City away from Friday lunch. But Friday’s blood-and-guts scrap between Standard Life and Pearl will have stunned many investors.

The day moved at a cracking pace. Mid-morning, Resolution came out in support of the previous evening’s cash-and-shares offer from Standard Life, worth about 715p. Without so much as blushing, Resolution ditched its previously impassioned commitment to an agreed merger with Friends Provident. Then, just an hour later, Pearl raised its offer to 720p while revealing it now controlled 22 per cent of Resolution’s shares. Another 80 minutes on and its holding nudged up to 24.4 per cent.