21 May 2015 Insurance

Benchimol committed to PartnerRe deal despite Exor bid

Axis Capital has reaffirmed its commitment to the merger with PartnerRe following the announcement that PartnerRe’s board of directors will engage in discussions with Italian investment company Exor.

The board secured a waiver from Axis, which allows for direct engagement with Exor with customary access, including due diligence to determine whether its offer can be improved.

In a letter to Axis staff, Albert Benchimol, chief executive officer of Axis, added that the board of PartnerRe publicly stated that is has not changed its recommendation with respect to, and continues to support, the pending merger with Axis.

However, he added that if the merger were to fall through, Axis has a bright future.

“We are a great company on our own, and were successfully pursuing our own standalone strategy when PartnerRe approached us with the proposed merger. We agreed to the merger because it accelerated our strategy, and we intend to work on making it happen,” he said.

“But if it doesn't, we are still the same strong company we were before we announced the merger, and if PartnerRe sells to another party we expect to receive a $280 million break-up fee that would increase our book value by approximately 5 percent.”

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