UK insurer Prudential is tapping sovereign wealth funds in China and Singapore to help finance its US$35.5 billion ($49.9 billion) buyout of US insurance giant AIG’s Asian arm, an FT report said today, according to Dow Jones Newsires.

The Financial Times quoted unidentified sources as saying that Prudential and its advisers were in talks with the sovereign wealth funds to support a planned US$20 billion share offer for AIA.

It said the Singapore and China sovereign wealth funds had not made a final decision but their response was positive.

Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and China Investment Corp. — among the region’s major sovereign wealth funds — wouldn’t comment on whether they had been approached by the insurer.

“It is inappropriate for us to comment on market speculation,” a spokeswoman for Temasek Holdings said in a statement.

A CIC spokeswoman said the fund has seen the newspaper report but added it was company policy not to comment on rumours.

Asked about its market strategy, the CIC spokeswoman said: “As an investment institution, we make financial portfolio investment and seek medium- to long-term, risk-adjusted returns at a reasonable level. These have been the principles we always follow.”

Prudential today agreed to buy AIA for US$35.5 billion in the insurance sector’s biggest ever takeover.