ACE Sets Share Price at $35

Bermuda’s ACE Ltd. set a price of $35 per share for the 28.6 million shares of its common stock that it will offer to the public in order to raise approximately $1 billion for corporate purposes. (See IJ Website Oct. 25)

An additional 4.29 million shares will be made available at the same price to the investment companies who are managing the offering, Salomon Smith Barney Inc. (sole book-running manager), JPMorgan Securities Inc. and Banc of America Securities LLC, to cover over allotments.

Although ACE shares fell over 5 percent following the announcement, closing at $35.40 on the NYSE, the offer price represents a sharp rebound from the lows reached after Sept. 11, when the share price briefly dipped below $20.