Friends Provident, the embattled life assurer, said it was in talks with a “limited range of buyers” on the sale of its 52 per cent stake in F&C, the separately listed fund manager.

Sir Adrian Montague, chairman of Friends, answering questions from shareholders at the assurer’s annual meeting, described the potential sale of F&C Asset Management as a “more complicated situation” than the planned disposals of Lombard, its European wealth management business, and Pantheon, an intermediary.