Axis agrees to lift PartnerRe dividend 52% to beat Exor bid

(Bloomberg) -- Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. agreed to a 52% increase in the size of the dividend that PartnerRe Ltd. shareholders would get before their planned merger, seeking to fend off a hostile bid for the reinsurer from Exor SpA.

The dividend was raised to $17.50 from $11.50, Bermuda-based PartnerRe and Axis said Thursday in a statement.

Exor is seeking to buy PartnerRe for cash and has been improving terms since making its initial unsolicited bid to break up the company’s deal with Axis, a Bermuda-based insurer. Turin-based Exor has offered $6.8 billion, and said last week that it would lift the dividend rate on PartnerRe preferred shares by one percentage point and won’t call three series of the securities until 2021. Axis said Thursday that it would match Exor terms on preferred stock.

“The merger creates opportunities that neither company could really achieve on its own in the near-term -– including expense synergies in excess of $200 million, significant capital efficiencies, and incremental growth opportunities,” Albert Benchimol, the chief executive officer of Axis, said in the statement.

After Exor sweetened its offer terms and met with investors in New York last week, Axis and PartnerRe postponed the date for their shareholder votes on the merger to Aug. 7. The initial plan was July 24.

“We believe that Axis-PartnerRe were caught off guard by the enhancements” that Exor made, Charles Sebaski, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets said in a July 10 note to clients. At the time, Sebaski expected the insurers would boost PartnerRe shareholders’ dividend to as much as $14 a share.

PartnerRe rose 0.4% to $133.50 at 9:39 a.m. in New York, while Axis slipped 1% to $54.75.

Exor advanced 2.2% in Italy. An Exor spokesman declined to comment on the insurers’ new terms.

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.