Aon Corp.'s plan, announced last week, to purchase London-based reinsurance broker Benfield Group Ltd. for $1.75 billion (?935 million) has drawn mixed evaluations from the three major rating agencies.
Fitch Ratings, Moody's Investor's Service and Standard & Poor's said they believe the company's move would solidify Chicago-based insurance broker Aon's position as the top reinsurance broker. However, they differed over their evaluation of the impact the purchase will have on the company's liquidity and integration risks.
Aon said last week it would purchase Benfield for $6.55 (?3.50) a share, 29 percent above Benfield's Thursday closing stock price. As part of the deal, Aon will assume $170 million of the company's debt, which one rating service termed modest. The all-cash deal is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
