The board of Friends Provident will meet today to hammer out the final details of its long-awaited strategic review, which is due to be announced on Thursday.

The struggling insurer is in talks with JC Flowers, the American private equity firm, over a potential takeover, but is believed to be pushing for a higher offer.

It emerged last week that JC Flowers had made an informal approach to Friends Provident, which has struggled since the collapse last November of its £8.7 billion agreed merger with Resolution, the closed life fund consolidator.

Friends Provident is thought to be pushing JC Flowers to raise its proposed offer from 175p a share to above 200p a share. The insurer is also believed to be keen to find a buyer for F&C Asset Management, the fund manager of which it holds a 52 per cent share. The insurer may consider the sale of Lombard International, its Benelux-based wealth management business.

No bidder, other than JC Flowers, has approached Friends Provident with an offer for the whole company. Tim Young, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said that he expected the private equity firm to make a bid before the insurer unveils the results of its review. “We can only speculate on what this review will look like, but the risk is on the downside. There is no silver bullet for Friends Provident from internal actions,” he said.

Roger Hill, of UBS, said that the insurer could raise cash to fund new UK business by opting to cut its dividend, or pay less commission to distributors of its products, instead of selling off assets.

Friends Provident will also release its full-year new business sales figures on Thursday. Mr Hill said that he expected an 14 per cent increase in sales to £8.1 billion for 2007.

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