Acquisitions · Insurance (specialty)

Sompo buys Bermuda-based specialty insurer Endurance for about $6.3 billion

Buyer: Sompo Holdings (via Sompo Japan Nipponkoa) (Tokyo)
Target: Endurance Specialty Holdings, Pembroke, Bermuda
Value: $93.00 a share in cash; about ¥637.5B in total
Status: Agreed on October 5, 2016; completed on March 28, 2017.
Date: 2016-10-05

Sompo Holdings agreed to buy Endurance Specialty Holdings for $93.00 a share in cash, about ¥637.5 billion in total. Endurance is based in Bermuda but operates heavily in the US, where it is a large crop insurer, as well as in the UK. Sompo kept Endurance's management in place.

Why it matters

The deal gives Sompo a primary insurance base in the US, the main step in its plan to grow overseas profit through acquisitions.

Deal terms

The joint release put the total at about $6,304 million, about 40.3% above Endurance's closing share price on October 3, 2016. Sompo paid from existing funds and supplementary facilities, with no financing condition. The deal needed approval from Endurance's shareholders and regulators in Bermuda, the UK, Japan and the US states of Delaware, Texas and California.

Sompo's targets

Sompo said the deal would raise the overseas share of its group income from about 12% to about 27%, based on fiscal 2015 figures. Endurance's lines include crop, property, casualty, specialty and reinsurance, and it ranked fifth among US crop insurers by underwriting fees in 2015. Chief executive John Charman was to lead Sompo's international business.

Sources

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