Zurich Insurance Owns 1.47% Stake in Bid Target Beazley

By Ian Walker

Zurich Insurance said it owns 1.47% of cyber insurer Beazley, as the Swiss company tries to buy the London-listed company and create a business with $15 billion in gross written premiums.

Zurich Insurance said in a regulatory filing Monday that it owns 8.9 million shares in the London-listed company. The stake is valued at 100.45 million pounds ($137.5 million), based on Beazley's closing price of 11.33 pounds on Friday.

Zurich Insurance said on Jan. 19 that it made a number of approaches to buy Beazley, the latest at 12.80 pounds a share and valuing the company at 7.67 billion pounds, all of which were rejected.

Beazley confirmed it had received the approaches and rejected them. It subsequently said on Jan. 22 that the board rejected the most recent cash bid, saying it materially undervalued the company and its long-term prospects.

"The board is...open-minded about all options to deliver value," it said at the time adding that it was confident of the company's standalone prospects as a publicly listed company.

Beazley shares were up 31 pence, or 2.7%, at 11.64 pounds in early afternoon European trading. Zurich Insurance shares were up 8.80 Swiss francs, or 1.6%, at 557.80 francs. Beazley shares are up 40% so far this year, while Zurich's are down 7.3%.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2026 10:20 ET (15:20 GMT)