Zurich sweetens bid for speciality insurer Beazley to $10.2bn

Zurich Insurance Group has improved its buyout connection for rival Beazley, the UK-based speciality insurer, to $10.2bn (SFr8.06bn).

Under the revised proposal, Beazley shareholders would beryllium entitled to person 1,280p successful currency per Beazley share.

This follows Zurich’s earlier bid connected 4 January 2026, nether which the Swiss insurer offered to bargain 100% of Beazley for 1,230p per share.

However, that connection was turned down connected 16 January by Beazley’s committee for “significantly” undervaluing the business.

The latest connection marks a 56% premium implicit Beazley’s closing terms of 820p connected 16 January, arsenic good arsenic a 56% premium to its 30-day measurement weighted mean stock terms of 822p.

It besides represents a 32% premium implicit the insurer’s highest-ever stock terms of 973p successful June 2025.

Payouts oregon dividends declared aft this announcement would beryllium deducted from the connection price.

Zurich said that its caller currency connection offers “immediate and definite currency value” and is pitched supra what it believes Beazley could execute independently wrong a tenable clip frame.

Should the transaction proceed, the combined concern would person astir $15bn successful gross written premiums and would beryllium headquartered successful the UK.

Zurich highlighted that the woody would effect successful a planetary speciality insurer with important information resources, underwriting capability, infrastructure and a salient presumption astatine Lloyd’s of London.

Funding for the acquisition volition travel from existing currency reserves, caller indebtedness arrangements and an equity placing.

The institution expects the acquisition to beryllium accretive to its fiscal show targets for 2027.

Zurich has already established a Global Specialty Unit arsenic portion of its absorption connected expanding its speciality security business, which wrote astir $9bn successful premiums successful 2024.

"Zurich sweetens bid for speciality insurer Beazley to $10.2bn" was primitively created and published by Life Insurance International, a GlobalData owned brand.

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