It has been revealed that regulators in South Korea and Vietnam are investigating the Prudential PLC's US$35.5 billion bid for American International Group Inc.'s Asian life-insurance business. They are the only ones across Asia that are giving attention to the antitrust implications.

Barry Stowe, Chief Executive of Prudential Corporation Asia, said the company is convinced that it will approved in those market.

He shared that in South Korea, which is dominated by three local insurers, "The combined market share [of Prudential and AIA Group Ltd.] would not be anything that anybody would be concerned about in terms of antitrust".

According to information from the company and Bernstein Research, Prudential's share of the South Korean market, after the merger, would amount to 6%. This would place the insurer at the fifth position.

However, the situation in Vietnam will not be the same.

In Vietnam Prudential is the top insurer. It owns 39% share of the market. It is followed by Vietnam Insurance Corp., also known as Bao Viet.

It is anticipated that the addition of AIA would increase the share to 45%.

Stowe remarks that the addition of AIA's ''smaller" market share in Prudential would not be much problem for Vietnamese regulators.