Beazley rejects Zurich’s takeover proposal as it ‘materially undervalues’ insurer

Beazley has rejected Zurich’s latest takeover proposal, stating that the bid “materially undervalues Beazley and its longer-term prospects as an independent company”.

Zurich announced on Monday (19 January 2026) that it wanted to acquire Beazley and had put forward a proposal that equates to 1,280 pence in cash per share.

However, following detailed evaluation of the proposal by the board together with advisors, Beazley said that the board “has unanimously rejected the cash proposal of 1,280 pence per share from Zurich”.

”The board is fully focused on maximising shareholder value, has listened carefully to the feedback it has received from its shareholders and is open-minded about all options to deliver value,” the insurer added.

New Beazley revelation

Beazley also revealed that Zurich’s interest in a takeover began in 2025. It said the board received three proposals from Zurich in June last year and ”engaged appropriately, including providing Zurich with certain limited due diligence information in a good faith effort to come to a shared understanding of value”.

And it highlighted that Zurich’s latest proposal is below the bid put forward in late June last year, which valued the company at 1,315 pence per share at an implied equity value of £8.4bn. This was also rejected.

Beazley said: “The board is very confident in Beazley’s standalone prospects as a publicly listed company and in the attractiveness of Beazley’s business model fundamentals and believes that Beazley is uniquely positioned within the global insurance market to maximise long-term shareholder value and realise the full potential of its specialty platform.”

Zurich plans

Zurich wants to acquire Beazley as it believes taking over Beazley would help to establish a leading global specialty platform, based in the UK, that would bring in around $15bn (£11.1bn) of GWP.

Zurich also felt the suggested transaction with Beazley would deliver attractive returns for both Zurich’s and Beazley’s shareholders.

It is unclear how Zurich will respond to this latest rejection. However, a spokesperson for the insurer did confirm to Insurance Times that it is currently preparing to launch a Lloyd’s syndicate.

The Financial Times, which first reported the story, said that establishing a syndicate would give Zurich access to private capital to back risks underwritten at Lloyd’s and that “doing so would provide Zurich with another avenue into the market if its takeover bid for Beazley was rejected”.