Munich Re are reportedly interested in OneBeacon as the auction nears its end.
Launched at the start of the year by White Mountains, the Credit Suisse lead process was due to end last week. A deal is thought to be in its final stages and is likely to go ahead, should White Mountains receive the reserve price for the insurer.
Zurich and The Hartford are thought to be two other companies who showed an interest in acquiring the insurer but opted not to progress to the final round of bids.
Initial expectations were that White Mountains would try to attract a bidder from the Far East. However, Chinese acquisitions have struggled to get approval recently and it has been reported that White Mountains didn’t what the process falling down in the final stages.
It has been said that the price expected is 1.5x to 1.6x book value, which would value the business at between $16.23 and $17.31 per share or $1.53bn to $1.63bn.
