(Reuters) -Vienna Insurance Group will acquire all shares of German insurer Nuernberger Beteiligungs AG for 1.38 billion euros ($1.61 billion) in cash, it said late on Thursday.
VIG will offer Nuernberger shareholders 120 euros per share, the insurer said in a statement, implying a premium of about 15% to the German firm’s last close of 104.5 euros, according to Reuters calculations.
Nuernberger has come under activist pressure from investor 7Square to entertain rival offers, apart from VIG’s, but on Friday, 7Square changed its stance.
“The transaction proposal by VIG is a good outcome for Nuernberger shareholders,” it said in a statement.
In August, 7Square had said that Nuernberger could be worth as much as 1.6 billion euros, after VIG said it was in exclusive due diligence for a potential takeover of Nuernberger, without specifying a possible price.
Shares of Nuernberger have nearly doubled since VIG said it was considering an acquisition.
Nuernberger’s life insurance, property and casualty insurance divisions have underperformed for years.
“With our multi-brand strategy, we offer ideal conditions for securing the location and maintaining the identity of the strong Nuernberger brand,” said Hartwig Löger, chairman of the VIG managing board.
Major shareholders of Nuernberger holding 64.4% control, including Munich Re and Swiss Re, have agreed to sell their shares, while members of its management board confirmed they will tender all shares they hold, VIG said on Thursday.
($1 = 0.8552 euros)
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru, Christoph Steitz and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Toby Chopra)
