Insurer ACE Ltd. agreed to buy Chubb Corp. for $28.3 billion in cash and stock, creating one of the biggest property-casualty insurance companies in the world. The Wall Street Journal says that the deal comes as property-casualty insurers are facing pressure from what most people view as a stroke of good luck: relatively modest hurricane claims since 2012, the year of superstorm Sandy. With fewer claims checks being sent to individuals and businesses, insurers’ capital bases are growing, and their stepped-up competition with each other to put that capital to work is depressing prices.
This is one of several multibillion-dollar insurance tie-ups since late last year, most recently Tuesday’s announcement of an $18 billion combination of insurance broker Willis Group Holdings PLC and consulting firm Towers Watson and Co. Conditions are ripe for more big deals, analysts say.
The ACE deal, announced by both companies Wednesday, is one of the largest of the year and the biggest among life and property-casualty insurers on record. ACE is adding one of the most well-known names in the U.S. insurance industry. New Jersey-based Chubb is a leading provider of homeowners’ insurance to wealthy Americans through its Masterpiece coverage. ACE also targets high-net-worth customers in its personal-insurance business. Both companies have large operations selling insurance to midsize businesses.
Combined, the companies will have shareholder equity of nearly $46 billion and cash, investments and other assets of $150 billion.
ACE was formed in the Cayman Islands in 1985 by 34 blue-chip U.S. companies to provide then-hard-to-find excess-liability and directors-and-officers coverage. It expanded in 1999 when it acquired the property-casualty-insurance business of Cigna Corp. as that company was narrowing its focus to health insurance. Last year, ACE earned $2.9 billion with $17.8 billion in net premiums written.
Chubb, which operates in 25 countries, last year reported a profit of $2.1 billion on $12.6 billion in net premiums written.
The combined company will be based in Switzerland, as ACE is.