Insurer Hartford rejects rival Chubb's US$23.24b buyout offer

[NEW YORK] Property and casualty insurer Hartford on Tuesday rejected a US$23.24 billion takeover offer from larger rival Chubb, derailing what would have been the largest deal in the property and casualty insurance sector since 2016.

Hartford in a short statement said its board, after consultation with its financial and legal advisers, had determined that entering into talks about a deal would not be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.

Chubb had made a US$65 per share offer for Hartford on March 18 and said at the time that it had not yet received a response from Hartford to its proposal.

A deal between Hartford and Chubb would be the biggest in the sector since Aon's US$30 billion bid to buy Willis Towers Watson last year, and the largest in the US P&C insurance space since Chubb was created in its current form in January 2016.

REUTERS