Although
Zurich’s unexpected departure from an RSA bid has caused the UK’s insurers shares to crash and subsequently eliminated more than $2 billion from its market value, CEO Stephen Hester remains optimistic about its positioning in the marketplace.
“I am sure that this company will get other approaches in the future because it’s a consolidating industry and it’s an attractive company, but we are not looking for approaches and we are not talking to anyone else as we speak,” CEO Stephen Hester told
Bloomberg.
In addition, Hester announced that he shared the same astonishment as many analysts when Zurich announced their decision to withdraw from its conditional offer.
“I was surprised,” Hester said. “We knew that the due diligence had gone well and that nothing had come out that was alarming. It was as much as a surprise to us as it was to the market.”
Now that the purchase is off the table, however, there is a renewed speculation over who may be next to place an offer. One analyst believes Munich, Germany-based
Allianz could be a forthcoming suitor.
“Allianz could come in. From their perspective, there is no need to rush; they can let the story stabilise. It’s something that’s possible,” Eamonn Flanagan, Liverpool head, Shore Capital, told the
Financial Times. French giant
AXA has also been mentioned as a possible contender.
Other analysts, however, believe that the industry should look East when considering who may present the next offer.
"If Zurich couldn’t make it work, we doubt that other western insurers can either," Oliver Steel, institutional investor, Deutsche Bank, told clients, according to
Bloomberg. “Nor do our U.S. analysts believe that there is interest from U.S. insurers. That leaves only the Japanese or Chinese insurers, who could be interested in building their global scale, but who wouldn’t derive any synergies.”
