EXOR “Willing To Negotiate In Good Faith”

EXOR S.p.A., one of Europe’s leading listed investment companies and the largest shareholder of Bermuda-based PartnerRe Ltd., said “it is willing to negotiate in good faith to provide PartnerRe shareholders with improved closing certainty with regards to its binding all-cash $137.50 offer.

“EXOR is prepared to commence these discussions once the Board of PartnerRe declares that EXOR’s binding offer is reasonably likely to be a ‘Superior Proposal,’which is the process called for under the PartnerRe agreement with AXIS Capital Holdings Limited,” the company said.

“EXOR urges the Board of PartnerRe to acknowledge its binding all-cash offer is reasonably likely to be a Superior Proposal. Failing that, EXOR asks the PartnerRe Board to announce a record date and a date for a shareholder meeting to allow shareholders to decide what is in their best interest.”

A copy of the letter to the PartnerRe Board follows:

Board of Directors
PartnerRe Ltd.
Wellesley House South
90 Pitts Bay Road
Pembroke HM 08
Bermuda

May 21, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I highly appreciate the determination of the Board of Directors of PartnerRe to engage in discussions with EXOR.

Our Binding Offer of $137.50 per share in cash for all common shares of PartnerRe and the contract we submitted, which is more favorable to PartnerRe in material respects than your existing amalgamation agreement with AXIS, clearly constitute a Superior Proposal and, based on the reaction in the marketplace, we believe your shareholders view it that way as well.

We are willing to engage in good faith negotiations to bring EXOR’s Superior Proposal to fruition for PartnerRe’s shareholders.

The objective of this letter is to:

Clarify to the PartnerRe Board of Directors and shareholders certain aspects of the EXOR Binding Offer which have been misrepresented by the Transaction Committee of the PartnerRe Board; and Propose to the PartnerRe Board a clear path forward to allow shareholders to benefit from EXOR’s Superior Binding Offer.

1. Clarifications on Certain Aspects of EXOR’s Superior Binding Offer

Price

The Transaction Committee members continue to claim that our Binding Offer of $137.50 per share in cash does not provide adequate value for your shareholders, both as a standalone entity and by comparison to the benefits inherent in the AXIS transaction. We respectfully disagree with this assertion. In fact:

• The Transaction Committee, which yesterday suggested our $137.50 per share all-cash Binding Offer was inadequate, has twice previously approved and recommended to the PartnerRe Board transactions with AXIS at considerably lower valuations.
• While the Transaction Committee has cited the purported value of synergies from the AXIS transaction, the market’s skepticism regarding the strategic rationale of the AXIS transaction is clearly evidenced by the fact that from January 26, 2015 [the day after the AXIS transaction was announced] to April 13, 2015 [the day before the EXOR proposal was announced], the PartnerRe implied per share value under the AXIS agreement traded in a range between $109.61 per share and $115.10 per share.
• The EXOR Binding Offer of $137.50 per share delivers a premium of 10% to the implied per share value under the AXIS agreement of $125.17 using the closing price of AXIS shares as of May 5, 2015, the last trading day prior to published reports of takeover interest in AXIS if the AXIS agreement fails.

The superiority of EXOR’s Binding Offer from a financial point of view is clear. Of interest to me, and I think to your shareholders, is that your letter does not say that the AXIS proposal is superior.

Closing Certainty

Any attempt by the Transaction Committee to characterize EXOR’s Binding Offer as having low closing certainty is not accurate. In fact:

• There are no substantive regulatory risks to the EXOR Binding Offer. Our group has previously invested in the insurance and reinsurance industry over the past 100 years and currently owns, through EXOR or its portfolio companies, insurance businesses and other regulated financial service businesses in several jurisdictions. Our transaction is easier for regulators to approve than the AXIS proposal because:
  • [a] Unlike AXIS, the EXOR Binding Offer does not contemplate a complex integration plan, a change in management of the regulated insurance companies or any change in the business plan of the insurance companies, nor is it dependent upon synergies being realized.
  • [b] Unlike AXIS, EXOR does not compete with PartnerRe and therefore there are no substantive antitrust issues. As a result, obtaining clearances from competition authorities is only a matter of compliance with filing and waiting period requirements.
  • [c] Unlike the AXIS agreement, which strips $560 million of cash from PartnerRe to pay an extraordinary dividend, EXOR’s Binding Offer does not involve any extraordinary dividend.

  For the reasons outlined above, among others, we are very confident that regulators will look favorably upon EXOR as the ultimate owner of PartnerRe.

  The EXOR parties to the Merger Agreement are required to use their “reasonable best efforts” to obtain the necessary approvals. This is a very high legal standard, and is the same exact covenant that applies in the AXIS agreement you approved. The covenant also includes an express obligation to obtain information from affiliated parties for filings. To suggest that these obligations are “illusory” is a significant mischaracterization of the facts.

• EXOR has made its contract more certain to close than the AXIS agreement by, among other things, eliminating the closing condition that PartnerRe maintain an A.M. Best rating of at least A-. Under the AXIS agreement, AXIS could terminate its transaction if PartnerRe did not maintain this rating after incurring significant losses. In this and other ways, our contract is Superior to the AXIS agreement and provides higher closing certainty to PartnerRe shareholders.

We are confident that the PartnerRe Board and shareholders recognize that EXOR has already spent vastly more than AXIS in its efforts to show its commitment to this transaction, investing approximately $609 million in cash to become PartnerRe’s largest shareholder with 9.9% of PartnerRe’s outstanding common shares [the maximum allowable under PartnerRe’s organizational documents]. Contrary to your suggestion, this is not the action of a company looking to preserve “optionality.” EXOR is steadfast in its commitment to bring a superior outcome to PartnerRe shareholders, employees and clients.

To allay any remaining concerns you may have and show our commitment to completing the transaction, we are willing to negotiate in good faith to provide your shareholders with improved closing certainty, once you announce that our all-cash Binding Offer of $137.50 is reasonably likely to be a “Superior Proposal”.

Timing Risk

Contrary to the Transaction Committee’s suggestion, if acted upon promptly, the EXOR Binding Offer can close in the fourth quarter of 2015. Furthermore, the timing risks identified by the Transaction Committee have been misstated. In fact:

• Your letter asserts that your shareholders would bear significant risks associated with the upcoming hurricane season and other potential catastrophes. That is correct as it relates to the AXIS transaction since the tangible book value per share of the combined companies could suffer with catastrophe losses. In contrast, under the EXOR Binding Offer, shareholders will receive certain value of $137.50 per share in cash even if PartnerRe suffers significant catastrophe losses prior to closing.
• Timing risk from the hurricane season does not exist under our all-cash Binding Offer for two reasons. First, we removed the A.M. Best rating condition that AXIS has in its transaction. Second, catastrophe losses are excluded from the closing condition related to material adverse effects.
• EXOR also notes that, under the existing terms of its proposed transaction, PartnerRe common shareholders will continue to receive regular dividends of up to $0.70 per share per quarter for common shares, plus a pro-rated quarterly dividend through the closing date, which is expected to occur in 2015. These dividends will be paid to PartnerRe common shareholders in addition to the $137.50 per share they will receive at closing.

Deal Protections

• You have requested that we lower our proposed $250 million break-up fee which is already lower than the $280 million break-up fee you agreed to in the AXIS agreement. Even more significantly, our break-up fee is approximately 3.7% of the value of our offer, contrasted with the above-market AXIS fee which is over 4.5% of the common equity value under the AXIS agreement.
• We find inappropriate that the Transaction Committee further increased the break-up fee negotiated in the original agreement with AXIS by $30 million and implemented other changes to the existing AXIS agreement in an attempt to preclude EXOR’s Binding Offer or proposals from any other interested parties. We note that your Transaction Committee’s decisions with respect to the break-up fee and expense reimbursement deprived shareholders of more than $6 per share of additional consideration from EXOR and we trust you will not further disadvantage shareholders in their ability to receive our truly Superior Proposal. Further delays and expenses to protect the inferior AXIS transaction do not serve the best interests of PartnerRe shareholders.
• Your counsel asked that we introduce a “go shop” provision into our agreement. There is no reason to do so. You state in your letter to shareholders that “the Board’s decision to merge with AXIS followed a thorough exploration of strategic options” and that “other transformative transactions such as a sale, were also considered.” Additionally, since the announcement of your transaction with AXIS on January 25, as well as the announcement of our initial proposal on April 14, no other interested parties have emerged. If, however, you would like to solicit additional interest now, we have no objections, trusting that you will act in the best interest of shareholders by not increasing the complexity or length of the process or incurring significant additional expenses. We see no reason to change any of the deal protections in our proposed transaction, which are more favorable to PartnerRe than the protections in your deal with AXIS.

2. Proposed Path Forward to Allow PartnerRe Shareholders to Benefit from the Superior EXOR Binding Offer

While EXOR will not consider increasing the price of its Binding Offer or changing the deal protections terms, we are willing to negotiate in good faith to provide PartnerRe shareholders with improved closing certainty.

In order to engage constructively with you and your advisors in such conversations, we request that the PartnerRe Board declare EXOR’s Binding Offer reasonably likely to be a Superior Proposal, as currently defined in the AXIS agreement.

Given EXOR’s Binding Offer of $137.50 per share is economically superior to the AXIS proposal, and the contract we submitted is more favorable to PartnerRe in material respects than your agreement with AXIS, we believe this should be a straightforward decision for the PartnerRe Board. This decision would allow EXOR and PartnerRe to engage constructively over the next few days, without placing any risk on your shareholders because your existing AXIS agreement will continue to remain effective.

We are pleased to engage in dialogue with PartnerRe on the basis contemplated in your agreement with AXIS. However, we are not willing to engage in a dialogue with PartnerRe on the basis of a waiver, because this construct is highly unusual, is not contemplated in your existing agreement with AXIS and has proven in the past not to lead to constructive conversations between our two organizations.

Once the PartnerRe Board determines that EXOR’s Binding Offer is reasonably likely to be a Superior Proposal, we expect to conduct a limited information exchange on regulatory matters and management meetings to be able to provide your shareholders with increased closing certainty.

We hope we can engage in constructive discussions with you in order to bring the EXOR Binding Offer to fruition swiftly, delivering significant benefits to PartnerRe shareholders and more certainty to PartnerRe’s more than 1,000 employees whose morale has, no doubt, been negatively affected by the expected “redundancies” contemplated in the existing AXIS transaction. We believe any additional delay in making a decision to support EXOR’s transaction will not be in the best interest of your shareholders or employees. We sincerely hope you will also take into consideration the views of management and employees in deciding which transaction will serve the best interests of PartnerRe.

On one additional point I want to be very clear: Mr. Montupet never asked me if our original proposal of $130 per share was our best and final offer and I never said it was. The public statements of certain members of the Transaction Committee to the contrary are either a reflection of their lack of direct involvement in the process or a failure of recollection. I did say that our offer was firm in the context of us not bidding against ourselves and not being given access to due diligence information. Our Binding Offer of $137.50 is clear evidence that our initial proposal was not our best and final offer.

We look forward to hearing further from the PartnerRe Board, and, if you really believe that the value for your shareholders under the AXIS agreement is superior, then please announce a record date and a date for a shareholder meeting to allow your shareholders to decide what is in their best interest.

Sincerely,

John Elkann
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
EXOR S.p.A.

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