Europe’s largest insurer may make a play for The Hartford in the wake of Chubb’s rebuffed takeover offer last week, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
Allianz SE, based in Germany, is contemplating a counteroffer to Chubb’s $23 billion takeover bid, Bloomberg said, citing internal sources. The Hartford rejected Chubb’s bid last week.
The Hartford is considered a tempting target as one of the last major U.S.-based property and casualty insurance firms, but Allianz doesn’t want to engage in a bidding war with Chubb, the sources told Bloomberg.
The Hartford’s market value rose to $24 billion as of Friday’s close in the wake of the Chubb offer. Allianz is valued at $103.7 billion.
Meanwhile, the impact of Chubb’s bid continued to reverberate in the state at the prospect of the takeover of the last major insurer based in Connecticut.
“I and I think many others would have very significant questions about whether that transaction would be in the public interest,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said of Chubb’s offer on Friday, speaking in a video clip he posted on Twitter.
Chubb early Monday released a statement that it was “disappointed that The Hartford chose not to engage in discussions regarding a strategic business combination.”
Chubb’s comments were issued in response to The Hartford’s announcement last week that its board had unanimously rejected Chubb’s takeover offer after consulting with its financial and legal team. Analysts said that Chubb’s bid price was low.
Chubb countered: “Our shareholders demand of us, and we demand of ourselves, that we remain a disciplined acquiror with an uncompromising focus on the fair value of any institution that we could acquire.”
