AmTrust $2.95B Take-Private Deal Gets Regulatory Approval
AmTrust’s $2.95bn take-private deal with Stone Point Capital is set to close today after the insurer announced yesterday evening that the transaction has been given the green light by regulators.
Source: Re-Insurance | Published on November 29, 2018
Closing the deal has been a lengthy process, with AmTrust chairman and CEO Barry Zyskind, his wife’s family the Karfunkels and backers led by private equity firm Stone Point first tabling a bid to take the carrier private back in January.
The offer was twice raised from an initial $12.25 a share to $13.50 a share in the wake of criticism over the perceived low price, and again in May to $14.75 a share after activist Carl Icahn revealed he had taken an almost 10 percent stake in AmTrust.
The higher price secured the approval of the proxy firms, which urged shareholders to vote in favour of the deal in a ballot that passed in June.
But then in the autumn significant shareholder Arca Capital put another obstacle in the transaction’s path with a bid to block the deal by asking state regulators to step in, alleging denial of claims by the insurer in the past.
Arca was among a number of minority investors who had claimed the company was worth considerably more than the final offer price, suggesting a price close to double that level would be fair.
Yesterday’s news that AmTrust has obtained all regulatory approvals required to complete the deal mean that the company has hurdled that final obstacle.
As previously reported, the transaction will see Evergreen Parent LP, an entity formed by Stone Point-managed funds and the Karfunkel-Zyskind Family, acquire the approximately 45 percent of AmTrust that are not currently under their control.
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