IPC Rejects Sweetened Validus Bid

The Board of Bermuda-based IPC Holdings Ltd. Has rejected a sweetened takeover bid by Validus Holdings Ltd. The Board backed its Max Capital Group deal, once again turning down overtures by the hostile suitor.

Validus had slightly sweetened its hostile bid for the Bermuda reinsurer to $1.69 billion, or $30.14 per share, Monday. The new offer included $3 of cash and 1.1234 Validus shares for each IPC share.

But the IPC said its board concluded the new offer did not constitute a superior proposal and was not in the company’s best interests. It recommended that IPC shareholders reject the Validus exchange offer.

The bid’s implied value of $30.14 per share represents a mere 16 cents per share, or less than 1 percent, increase over the value of the original offer of $29.98 per share, IPC said.

The new offer is also a 14 percent discount to IPC’s book value per share based on Wednesday’s closing stock prices, it said.

IPC shares closed at $25.69 on Wednesday. (Reporting by Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)