Intact Financial Corporation announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which it has agreed to acquire OneBeacon Insurance Group, Ltd., a leading US specialty insurer. Under the terms of the all-cash deal, OneBeacon shareholders will receive US$18.10 cash per common share, a 14% premium based on OneBeacon's closing stock price on the NYSE of US$15.89 as of May 1, 2017 and a 15% premium to the volume weighted average price over the last 30 days. This represents an aggregate cash consideration of approximately US$1.7 billion ($2.3 billion). In addition, OneBeacon debt of approximately US$275 million will remain outstanding. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is subject to approval by OneBeacon's shareholders.Intact's acquisition of OneBeacon is creating a North American leader in specialty insurance, with over $2 billion of annual premiums. It combines Intact's leading commercial lines track record and deep data, claims and digital expertise with OneBeacon's high caliber team and specialty lines capabilities. The acquisition bolsters Intact's Canadian business with new products and cross-border capabilities, and better positions Intact to compete with international insurers. Furthermore, this provides an additional growth pipeline to leverage Intact's consolidation expertise in a fragmented specialty lines market.
"Today, we've taken an important step in building a world class P&C insurer. The addition of OneBeacon is creating a leading North American specialty lines insurer focused on small to mid-sized businesses," said Charles Brindamour, CEO of Intact Financial Corporation. "OneBeacon is a strong strategic fit for Intact, with deep expertise in commercial and specialty lines, and shared values. We see significant growth potential from the combination of our specialty lines operations and we look forward to welcoming OneBeacon employees to the Intact family."
Mike Miller, CEO of OneBeacon Insurance Group, said, "We are all very excited to join the Intact family. The opportunity to leverage Intact's deep technical, financial and technology capabilities makes this combination the perfect next step in the OneBeacon journey. Together, we will accelerate our pursuit in creating a leading specialty insurer in North America. We look forward to working with our US and Canadian independent agents and brokers to deliver market-leading capabilities to our targeted customers. Both companies are dedicated to ensuring a seamless transition and look forward to profitably growing our specialty portfolio going forward."