Friends Provident windfalls

Life insurer Friends Provident will be valued at the lower end of expectations - at £3.7 billion sterling, or 225p a share - when it demutualises and floats on Monday. The float, the largest this year and which could catapult the firm into the FTSE 100 Index, will trigger windfall payments of £450 for the group's 1.7 million members, who have each been given 200 free shares.