SHAREHOLDERS BACK ENDURANCE ACQUISITION OF MONTPELIER RE

Shareholders have approved Endurance Specialty Holding’s $1.8bn acquisition of Montpelier Re. The transaction, which still requires regulatory approvals, is expected to close early in the third quarter of 2015. Bermuda-based Endurance, led by John Charman, which failed to acquire Aspen last year, will pay $40.24 per Montpelier common share. The deal will create a company with shareholder equity in excess of $4bn, total capital of $5.5bn, and total cash and invested assets of $9.3bn. The acquisition will give Endurance a Lloyd’s platform as well as a property catastrophe reinsurance business and a third party re/insurance fund management operation. The addition of a Lloyd’s platform will play a central role in Endurance’s plans to grow its global specialty business in the next two to three years, Endurance's chairman and chief executive, Charman, has said. Endurance also expects to "achieve meaningful transaction synergies” through cost savings and greater capital efficiencies through the deal.