AXA buying insurer XL Group for $15.3 billion

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

Photo by Jack Guez/Getty Images

AXA has agreed to acquire Bermuda-based property and casualty insurer XL Group (NYSE: XL) for around $15.3 billion in cash, or $57.60 per share (33% premium to Friday's closing price).

Why it matters: This is the largest whitecap on what has been a massive wave of consolidation this year in the global insurance sector.

Bottom line from the Financial Times:

"The deal, if completed, would end a three-decade run as an independent company for XL, which was founded by 68 of the world's biggest companies in 1986 to keep coverage affordable after a crisis in US liability insurance... Today [it] is best known for reinsurance."

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