Take your partner

20 Jul 2015 By George Hay Follow @gfhay

Exor, the Italian family’s investment vehicle, has a better offer for the Bermudan reinsurer than Axis. Common shareholders would get more money, in cash, and preferred stockholders extra assurances. A last-minute counter by Axis would hurt its and PartnerRe’s investors.

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Exor on July 20 improved its offer for reinsurer PartnerRe by adding a special dividend of $3 a share for common shareholders. The Italian holding company, owned by the Agnelli family, has made a hostile bid for PartnerRe, which had agreed in January to be bought by Axis Capital. The special dividend increases the price of Exor’s cash offer to $140.50 a share.

The move follows Axis’ decision on July 16 to increase to $17.50 a share the special dividend it is offering to PartnerRe shareholders. Axis also announced it matched the terms Exor had offered to PartnerRe’s preferred shareholders – guaranteeing not to call the paper for five years and increasing the yield by 1 percentage point.

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