Hardy Says Beazley Bid Opportunistic
Bermuda-headquartered (re)insurer Hardy Underwriting publicly confirmed that its board this morning (Oct 18) unanimously rejected the approach by larger rival Beazley.
The Board of Hardy noted the announcement made by Beazley plc, confirming they received an unsolicited letter on October 6th 2010 from Beazley setting out details of an indicative proposal to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Hardy at 300p per share.
Hardy said the proposal substantially undervalues the Company and does not reflect aspects including its strong historic underwriting track record; focus on attractive short tail niche lines of business; and high quality underwriting teams and management.
Hardy said their Board views the proposal as “an attempt to acquire the company opportunistically,“ and having carefully considered the Proposal together with its advisers Rothschild and KBC Peel Hunt, was of the “unanimous opinion that it significantly undervalues the Company and consequently had no hesitation in rejecting the Proposal.“
