Britain on the market: Shares in Beazley soar after Zurich launches £7.7billion takeover bid for Lloyd’s of London insurer

Zurich Insurance has tabled a £7.7billion bid for Lloyd’s of London underwriter Beazley in the latest swoop on a UK-listed company.

The Swiss giant lodged a 1280p a share offer for the FTSE 100 group having seen a lower bid of 1230p a share rejected on Friday.

Shares in Beazley, one of the world’s biggest specialist insurers, with a focus on cybersecurity as well as other areas such as satellites, fine art and yachts, rose more than 40 per cent to an all-time high of 1170p.

Zurich chief executive Mario Greco revealed the latest offer was the fifth it has made for Beazley since an initial takeover approach a year ago.

He told the Financial Times ‘it was time to go public and eventually’ let Beazley shareholders ‘say what they think’.

Britain for sale: Beazley is the latest London-listed firm to become a takeover target

The firm added that the ‘full’ price being offered reflected ‘its desire to proceed at pace… and is designed to facilitate prompt engagement’.

Zurich is just the latest predator to go public with an offer to shareholders rather than secure an agreement with the board of its target first.

FitzWalter Capital is calling on shareholders in Auction Technology Group to persuade their board to engage having seen 12 bids turned down.

In a statement to investors yesterday, Zurich said: ‘Zurich believes that its proposal provides Beazley shareholders immediate and certain cash value for their investment at a level that exceeds what Beazley could achieve over a reasonable timeframe through the execution of its strategy and fully reflects Beazley’s fundamental value.’

Zurich said a deal ‘would create a global leader in speciality insurance’ with around £11billion of written premiums.

‘This combination of two highly complementary businesses would establish a leading global specialty platform, based in the UK which would also leverage Beazley’s Lloyd’s of London presence,’ it added.

Beazley, which was set up in 1986 and joined the stock market in 2002, is based in London and has operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia.

In a statement yesterday, it said the board ‘unanimously rejected’ Zurich’s 1230p offer because it ‘significantly undervalued the company’.

It added: ‘The board has not yet had the chance to consider Zurich’s improved proposal of 1,280p per share. We will update shareholders in due course. In the meantime, Beazley shareholders are urged to take no action.’

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said the bid for Beazley – and ongoing merger talks between mining giants Rio Tinto and Glencore – mean ‘2026 is starting with a bang for the UK stock market, whose tempting valuations are proving irresistible to both trade and financial buyers’. 

He added: ‘The Rio Tinto-Glencore talks and now Zurich’s move on Beazley could really stir animal spirits, especially if investors choose to redeploy the cash received in the event of a successful approach back into UK stocks.’