Zurich’s Planned £8.1B Acquisition of Beazley Gets Regulatory Nod in Australia
Zurich Insurance Group’s proposed £8.1 billion (US$10.8 billion) acquisition of Lloyd’s insurer Beazley plc has received approval from Australia’s regulatory watchdog.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced on June 17 that the acquisition “may be put into effect” because it is “unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in any market.”
Zurich also is awaiting approval from the UK regulators (the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority) as well as Lloyd’s of London, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) and the European Union’s competition watchdog, which received a filing for merger approval from Zurich on June 10 (Case Number M.12434).
Zurich and Beazley announced the all-cash offer on March 2, which was approved by Beazley’s shareholders in April. The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, will create the largest specialty insurer in the world with combined specialty gross written premiums of approximately US$15 billion (as of Dec. 31, 2024).
Australia’s competition watchdog explained its decision by saying that Zurich’s and Beazley’s market shares in Australia of the insurance products in which they overlap are estimated to be low, while the increases in share resulting from the acquisition are estimated to be low.
The two insurers “would likely continue to face competition by multiple alternative suppliers of specialty insurance products in Australia in all product segments in which they overlap…,” the ACCC said.
The ACCC cited the insurance products where the two companies have “competitive overlap” in relation to the supply of insurance products in Australia: cyber, marine, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), corporate property, personal accident, management liability, professional liability, and financial lines/institutions.
Nevertheless, the ACCC said: “The parties are not close competitors, with different areas of relative strength and focus.”