Barbican Insurance has made a new takeover bid for rival Omega Insurance, four months after backing away from the deal.
In a letter sent to Omega today, Barbican tendered their formal proposal of a ‘merger of equals’ via a share exchange.
The move comes after a similar proposal was turned down in September. In the letter Barbican says that while they were fully prepared to complete a transaction, the Board at Omega “made but a cursory evaluation of [the] proposals”.
After Barbican’s previous bid for the insurer, Haverford also began to show interest in a takeover of Omega. Barbican said that this was “extremely disapointing” and that a deal with Haverford would disenfranchise shareholders.
Small Lloyd’s of London insurers such as Omega are seen as lucrative investments for bigger companies, with the economic climate bringing share prices down.
Barbican said that any deal would take place via a share exchange, which would leave Omega shareholders owning the majority of the shares in the new, combined company, with no acquisition premium paid to Barbican shareholders.
A view of the full letter can be viewed here.
