Japan Insurer Sompo To Buy NY-listed Firm For $6.3 Bn

TOKYO, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 05th Oct, 2016 ) - Insurer Sompo Holdings said Wednesday it would buy Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings for $6.3 billion, becoming the latest Japanese firm to make an overseas acquisition as it faces slowing growth at home.

The all-cash deal for New York-listed Endurance, which has a strong presence in the lucrative US market, is expected to be completed by the end of March 2017, Sompo said. The Japanese firm offered $93 for each Endurance share, a 40.3 percent premium on the average price over the past three months, it said.

Endurance offers property and casualty insurance, with its main business based in the United States while it also operates in Britain and Bermuda.

The deal will be the second-largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese insurer, after Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance's $7.5-billion bid for US-based HCC Insurance Holdings last year, according to the leading Nikkei business daily.

Japanese insurance companies have been on a buying spree as they pursue business outside their home market, where a shrinking population and super-low interest rates have weighed on growth. Japan's Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance recently bought US-based StanCorp Financial Group for $5.0 billion, while Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance acquired Britain's Amlin in a multi-billion-dollar deal.