(Bloomberg) — Evan Greenberg may never build something quite as massive as his old man did — but he's been trying.
Fifteen years after defecting from the insurance giant that was put together by his father, the legendary Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the son is assembling a colossus of his own.
With a $28.3 billion deal for Chubb Corp. on Wednesday, the younger Greenberg, 60, is vaulting the position of his Ace Ltd. in the ranks of global insurers and gaining scale to compete against his father's old company. It's a remarkable turn of events for a family whose empire-building has torn through the insurance industry for decades.
"He's probably wired the same way as his dad and thinks there's opportunity," Bill Smead, who oversees $1.5 billion including Chubb shares at Smead Capital Management, said of Evan Greenberg. "The old adage is that the fruit doesn't fall very far from the tree."
Even at age 90, Hank Greenberg is making headlines. Two weeks ago, he scored a Pyrrhic victory over the U.S. government in a lawsuit involving its 2008 bailout of American International Group Inc., the insurer he spent a lifetime building.
In 2000, the senior Greenberg had designated his son to eventually replace him as AIG's leader. Evan Greenberg had other ideas, jumping to Ace and then becoming CEO in 2004.
His pursuit of expansion bucks what had been an industry trend for years. Insurers like Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and the post-Hank Greenberg AIG sold units to simplify operations after taking U.S. bailouts. Chubb and Travelers Cos., which withstood the financial crisis without government aid, favored using excess capital for share buybacks rather than expansion.
Evan Greenberg, meanwhile, cut deal after deal, pushing into niches like crop insurance or coverage of yachts and mansions. He also bet on emerging markets with acquisitions in nations such as Mexico, Brazil and Thailand.
"We are, first and foremost, builders," Evan Greenberg said in a conference call after the Chubb deal.
Odd jobs
Greenberg worked for three years as a cook, a bartender and at other odd jobs, before joining his father's company in 1975. His older brother, Jeff Greenberg, was previously considered by some investors to be the favorite to take over at AIG, but left in 1995 and later became CEO of insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. before leaving in 2004.
Ace shares have more than doubled since the end of 2004, and the insurer has consistently beaten an index of financial- services rivals.
"He really has done a marvelous job," said Patrick Thiele, the former CEO of reinsurer PartnerRe Ltd., who counted Ace as a client. "He has an awful lot of people reporting to him, which is also a fact of the way AIG was run," Thiele said. "He's very comfortable in that style."
'Many decades'
Evan Greenberg retains business relationships with his family. Jeff Greenberg's Aquiline Capital Partners manages two funds in which Ace affiliates invest, according to the company's proxy filing. And Ace does business with subsidiaries of Starr International Co., which is led by Hank Greenberg.
"He's a Greenberg," Josh Stirling, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, said of the Ace CEO in an interview. "If he keeps his health intact he'll be active for many decades. He's likely a permanent fixture in Ace, which is why they can take such a long-term view on deals."
While he isn't as well known as his father, the younger Greenberg still makes a stir on Wall Street. In 2012, he lamented that "in the U.S. and much of Europe, we face an unrelenting assault on business by government." He also is known for his biting remarks on conference calls, mocking rivals as "cowboys" who use "gun and run" tactics by charging unsustainable rates for insurance, disrupting markets.
In 2013, he stopped forecasting earnings per share for Wall Street after analysts struggled to make sense of some of his company's projections, and one asked if the guidance had outlived its usefulness.
"Everyone here is cheering, because we've said that to ourselves," the CEO said on a conference call. "My god, why are we doing guidance?"
He was equally terse on the Chubb call Wednesday when asked for specifics by Atlantic Equities's John Heagerty about the projection that the deal will add to earnings on a "double- digit basis" by the third year after closing.
"We're not providing that number," Greenberg said. "So you'll figure it out. We gave you what we're going to give you."
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