Apollo Global Management and CVC Capital Partners Ltd. extended their offer to buy Brit Insurance Holdings NV to Jan. 10 after receiving acceptances from 71 percent of shareholders.
Achilles Netherlands Holdings BV, the unit set up by the private equity firms to purchase Brit, had agreed to buy 56 million Brit shares as of 1 p.m. yesterday, the closing date of the original offer, the company said in a statement today.
Apollo and CVC agreed to buy Brit for as much as 888 million pounds ($1.4 billion) on Oct. 26, ending four months of takeover negotiations. Lloyd’s of London insurers have become cheaper takeover targets after premiums fell because of more competition caused by an abundance of capital built up after two years of relatively few natural catastrophes.
The bid for Brit, part of which is dependent on the size of the company’s assets at the end of the year, values the insurer at as much as 51 percent more than its closing price of 729 pence on June 10, the day before the first offer was announced.
Source : Bloomberg Businessweek
