Hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose fund owns the largest stake in Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG), encouraged the company to get a move on and complete reviewing its strategic options and bust the company up into two pieces.
Paulson had this to say to a group of investors and analysts on a conference call with Hartford’s CEO:
Hartford needs to do something drastic because the stock is the lowest valuation relative to book value of any major insurance company. … How long do we have to wait to hear if there’s going to be a positive recommendation to separate these two businesses?
Shares of Hartford fell -39% last year and the company trades at just half its book value. Shares are up more than 7% today at $20.49 in a 52-week range of $14.56-$31.08.
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