EXOR Will Urge PartnerRe Shareholders to Reject AXIS Merger

June 8, 2015

EXOR lost its bid in a Bermuda court to obtain PartnerRe’s non-public ownership details, losing access to information that would help it lobby shareholders directly about its $6.8 billion all-cash bid for the company.

Undaunted, EXOR promised it would encourage shareholders to reject PartnerRe’s ongoing merger plans with AXIS Capital Holdings, a plan first announced months ago.

PartnerRe issued a terse statement noting the ruling issued by the Supreme Court of Bermuda.

“EXOR’s application has been denied and EXOR has been ordered to pay PartnerRe’s costs,” the insurer said in prepared remarks. “We are pleased with this outcome.”

EXOR continues to be persistent about its $137.50 per share all-cash offer for PartneRe, an unsolicited bid that cropped up late this spring, months after PartnerRe and AXIS announced their own merger deal. EXOR, in its own statement about the Bermuda court decision, said it would continue its efforts. EXOR noted it is PartnerRe’s majority shareholder, an investment move it made after PartnerRe’s board resisted its initial overtures.

“Despite PartnerRe’s refusal to provide the requested information, EXOR will actively solicit PartnerRe’s common and preferred shareholders to vote against AGAINST the AXIS transaction at the PartnerRe Special General Meeting on July 24, 2015,” EXOR said.

EXOR added that it believes PartnerRe’s continued resistance to its offer “impedes its own shareholders from being fully and correctly informed of their options in a further attempt by the PartnerRe board to protect the inferior AXIS transaction.”

Sources: PartnerRe, EXOR