Zurich in PS8 billion Beazley swoop to grow specialty insurance arm
Beazley PLC on Monday agreed to a £8.1 billion takeover by Zurich Insurance Group AG, growing the latter’s ‘reach and distribution’, including in the Lloyd’s of London market.
Beazley shares rose 1.8% to 1,290.00 pence each in London on Monday afternoon, giving it a £7.73 billion market capitalisation.
Zurich is to acquire Beazley at 1,310 pence in cash per share. The deal values Beazley at £8.1 billion. Including a 25 pence dividend, shareholders in the insurer stand to receive £8.2 billion.
The offer price is a 60% premium to Beazley’s share price of 820 pence on January 16, the day before Zurich publicly announced its interest in a takeover.
‘The transaction represents a strong step in accelerating Zurich’s strategy to create the global leader in specialty insurance. It builds on the investments Zurich has already made in developing its market leading specialty franchise, which currently writes $9 billion of specialty gross written premiums as at 31 December 2025,’ Zurich said.
Zurich Insurance shares fell 2.5% to fr.566.00 in Zurich on Monday afternoon. It has a fr.83.16 billion, around £79.62 billion, market capitalisation.
Zurich plans to combine Beazley with its existing specialty businesses to operate as a division.
Zurich Chief Executive Officer Mario Greco said: ‘Leveraging Beazley’s established Lloyd’s platform, the combined specialty business will be headquartered in London and will be a powerful platform for long-term growth in specialty lines.’
Beazley last month said it would have been minded to accept a Zurich bid of 1,310p per share. In January, Beazley rebuffed a takeover approach from Zurich. That approach was at 1,280p per share, £7.67 billion in total. This followed a £7.37 billion proposal, 1,230p per share, made by Zurich on January 4, which Beazley also spurned. Also in January, Beazley disclosed that in June, it had rejected a higher 1,315p per share tilt from Zurich, worth £8.4 billion, the last of three proposals made at the time.
Beazley Chair Clive Bannister said Monday: ‘I am proud of everything Beazley has achieved in its first 40 years in business, growing from a Lloyd’s syndicate to a global specialty insurance leader and a member of the FTSE 100. Combining with Zurich, at a price which reflects an attractive value for shareholders, will create a $15 billion global leader in specialty underwriting. The Beazley board is pleased to recommend acceptance of Zurich’s offer.
‘On behalf of the Beazley board, I want to thank all those involved in making Beazley the leading specialty underwriting company it is today and I look forward with great anticipation to all we will achieve in the future.’
The deal is expected to come into effect in the second half of 2026.
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