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Zurich Insurance Group AG has made a sweetened £8 billion ($11 billion) bid to buy Beazley Plc, an offer that’s won the tentative approval of the UK insurer’s board.

The Swiss insurance giant’s revised cash proposal of 1,310 pence a share, up from 1,280 pence last month, has been agreed “in-principle” according to a statement Wednesday. With Beazley expected to pay its shareholders a permitted dividend of as much as 25 pence for the year ended Dec. 31, the total value would be 1,335 pence, or £8 billion, according to the statement.

Beazley’s board said it was minded to recommend the revised bid to shareholders but it isn’t yet clear if or when any deal would close.

The offer price, excluding the dividend, represents a premium of almost 60% to Beazley’s closing share price before the approach became public on Jan. 19, it said. It also represents just over 2.5 times Beazley’s book value, based on its June earnings.

The shares of the British firm jumped as much as 9% in early London trading on Wednesday. They have rallied 54% since Jan. 19 when the approach was made public for the first time, and were trading below the offer price at 1,261 pence as of 8:53 a.m. in London.

Beazley’s board “has concluded that the financial terms of the proposal are at a level that it would be minded to recommend” to its shareholders, according to the joint statement. “Zurich looks forward to commencing its confirmatory due diligence on Beazley and working with Beazley towards a binding offer announcement.”

Zurich, which is led by Chief Executive Officer Mario Greco, has been trying to woo Beazley for the past year and the latest offer is its sixth bid. The deal would create a “global leader” in specialty insurance with about $15 billion of gross written premiums based in the UK, it said. It would also leverage Beazley’s Lloyd’s of London presence, it added.

The Swiss insurer said the transaction would be in line with the strategic priorities indicated at its Nov. 18 investor day. Zurich has already began building a stake in Beazley, disclosing earlier this week that it had amassed 1.5% of the company’s shares.

“Beazley is a very complementary business to ours, there’s nothing we don’t need or don’t like,” Greco told Bloomberg News previously. “The fit is very strong.”

While Greco has spearheaded a series of deals in recent years, the Beazley approach is his company’s biggest since he took over in 2016 and its first major strategic move in a decade.

Last year, Zurich bought the Canadian cyber risk management firm BOXX Insurance Inc. Other recent acquisitions include a minority stake in Icen Risk, a UK company specializing in insuring mergers and acquisitions, American International Group’s global travel insurance business, as well as a majority stake in India’s Kotak General Insurance Co.

Beazley, which has operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia, reported net insurance written premiums of $5.2 billion in 2024 and $2.6 billion in the first six months of 2025. Risks grouped under the property and specialty banners made up around a third each of its premium income in the first half of 2025. Cyber and digital insurance represented about a fifth with areas like marine, aviation and political risks making up the balance.

Beazley had rejected the previous offer made on Jan. 19, saying it materially undervalued the company.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

Zurich’s increased offer for Beazley appears generous, as prices across the latter’s specialty lines of business fell sharply at the key Jan. 1 renewal season. The downturn in market pricing will likely constrain Beazley’s profit progress this year and next. The company has indicated it will recommend Zurich’s increased offer of 1310 pence plus the yet to be declared Beazley dividend of up to 25 pence a share. This represents 2.5x Beazley’s 1H tangible net assets.

— Kevin Ryan & Charles Graham, BI Senior Industry Analysts

Photograph: Zurich Insurance Group branding. Photographer: Michele Limina/Bloomberg

Related:

• Beazley Rejects Zurich Insurance’s £7.7 Billion Takeover Bid
• Zurich Makes £7.7 Billion Bid for Specialty Insurer Beazley

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions