Insurer Beazley agrees £8 billion takeover by rival Zurich

Swiss insurance giant Zurich has struck an £8 billion deal in principle to buy UK rival Beazley.

Zurich said it will pay £13.10 in cash per share for the London-listed specialist insurer, with shareholders also set to receive a 25p dividend alongside the deal.

The proposed deal comes only two weeks after Beazley rebuffed a £7.7 billion takeover approach by Zurich.

Beazley said: “The board of Beazley has carefully considered the proposal, together with its advisers.

“The board has concluded that the financial terms of the proposal are at a level that it would be minded to recommend to Beazley shareholders should a firm intention to make an offer be announced.”

The deal represents an almost 60% premium on Beazley’s closing share price before Zurich’s takeover approach became public.

Shares in the business have jumped by more than 50% higher over the past month as a result of the takeover speculation.

In a joint statement, the firms said: “The transaction would combine two highly complementary businesses and would establish a leading, global specialty platform with around 15 billion US dollars (£11 billion) of gross written premiums, based in the UK which would also leverage Beazley’s Lloyd’s of London presence.”

Zurich said it is launching its confirmatory due to diligence and is looking forward to working with Beazley towards sealing a binding agreement.

Zurich has more than 63,000 employees and is headquartered in Switzerland.

Beazley is a specialist insurer, with a burgeoning cyber cover offering, as well as cover across professional indemnity, property, marine, reinsurance, accident and life, and political risks and contingency business.