The board of Beazley plc has ‘unanimously rejected’ the £7.7 billion takeover bid from fellow insurance giant Zurich.
The FTSE 100 firm said the offer of 1,280p in cash per share, which comes after a previous offer was snubbed, ‘materially undervalues Beazley and its longer-term prospects as an independent company’.
The offer represents a 56% premium to Beazley’s 820p closing price on 16th January 2026. However Beazley’s share price has risen around 40% since then and currently stands at 1,138p, giving it a market cap of £6.8bn.
The board said it had received three proposals from Zurich in June last year and provided it with certain limited due diligence information in ‘good faith’.
The last of those – also rejected – was for 1,315p per share at an implied equity value of £8.4bn.
Beazley cited five reasons why it should remain as an independent listed company: a track record of delivering shareholder value; underwriting excellence; cyber leadership; superior return generation; and strong capital and reserves.
It has returned over $2.5bn of capital to shareholders over the last 10 years, with $1.3bn having been returned over the past three years.
On Monday, Zurich framed the deal as a strategic push to build a stronger global platform in specialty insurance, combining the two businesses into a group with around $15bn of gross written premiums.
It said the enlarged operation would benefit from Beazley’s Lloyd’s footprint and underwriting expertise, alongside Zurich’s scale, reinsurance capabilities and technology infrastructure.
The acquisition would be funded through a mix of existing cash, new debt facilities and an equity placing if it goes through, and will support Zurich’s broader ambition to grow its specialty unit.
Beazley, a specialist risk insurance and reinsurance company with a strong focus on cyber insurance, will announce its results for the full 2025 financial year on 4th March 2026.