Prudential's life insurance new business profit rises 17 percent

(Reuters) - Prudential Plc <PRU.L>, Britain's largest insurer, reported a 17 percent rise in its life insurance new business profit for the first nine months of the year on Wednesday, driven by another robust performance in Asia.

The company said new business profit in Asia, where a burgeoning middle class has boosted demand for insurance, rose 15 percent to 1.76 billion pounds.

The life insurer, which has a market value of around 42 billion pounds, is in the process of demerging that will see the UK and European insurance and asset management units of the 170-year-old company split off into a separate company.

The planned demerger was on track, Prudential said in the business performance update ahead of an investor day event in Singapore.

Once the new company, M&G Prudential, lists in London, the remaining international operations will refocus on faster-growing markets in Asia - particularly China - as well as the less-tightly regulated U.S. market.

External net outflows were 5.6 billion pounds in the first nine months for M&G Prudential's asset management business, the company said.

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)