NU Online News Service, Aug. 8, 11:48 a.m. EDT

Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity Co. has put in a competing bid for Transatlantic Holdings Inc.

National Indemnity’s offer is to buy all of Transatlantic’s outstanding shares for $52 per share, valued at about $3.25 billion.

In a letter to Transatlantic President and CEO Robert Orlich on Friday, Ajit Jain, reinsurance division president of Warren Buffett-owned Berkshire Hathaway, says he was “watching the screen all morning” following a telephone conversation the two had the previous day.

“With your stock trading at $45.83, I have to believe that you will find our offer to buy all of Transatlantic’s shares outstanding at $52 per share to be an attractive offer,” he writes on Friday.

National Indemnity is now the third bidder for Transatlantic, who has already entered into a definite $3.2 billion merger agreement with Allied World Assurance Co. Holdings, a specialty insurer which launched in Bermuda in 2002 and redomiciled to Switzerland in 2010.

Then Bermuda-based Validus Holdings swooped in and made a $3.5 billion unsolicited offer to acquire New York-based Transatlantic, starting a battle culminating when Validus went directly to Transatlantic shareholders with the offer when it and Transatlantic disagreed on terms associated with a “standstill provision” during negotiations.

Transatlantic’s board has rejected the Validus offer and filed a lawsuit.

On Sunday, Validus Chairman and CEO Ed Noonan restated the company’s commitment to its offer for Transatlantic. As of Aug. 5 the value of the offer was $46.37 per Transatlantic share plus continued participation by shareholders in the combined company.

“We believe Transatlantic stockholders deserve the right to choose for themselves between an offer that provides greater potential future value or a fixed price today,” Noonan says in a statement. He also urged Transatlantic’s board to enter into discussions with Validus for the benefit of stockholders.

The Validus and National Indemnity offers each “deliver greater market value than the Allied World takeover offer,” continues the statement.

Recently, Noonan offered his views on the benefits of the Validus deal for Transatlantic investors as well as comments on the casualty market.

Jain gives Transatlantic until the end of business today to submit a formal response to their offer.

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Berkshire&rsquo;s National Indemnity Enters Bidding Contest for Transatlantic

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