Transatlantic turns down Berkshire's $3.25-bn bid

Transatlantic Holdings Inc is rejecting a $3.25 billion takeover offer from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc that was set to expire on Tuesday.

"The Transatlantic board of directors does not believe the all-cash proposal, at substantially less than book value, would deliver fair value to stockholders and is therefore not accepting it," New York-based Transatlantic said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

Berkshire's National Indemnity renewed its $52-a-share cash bid in a September 16 letter and gave Transatlantic a three-day deadline to accept the deal. Transatlantic's book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities, is $67.76 a share.

Transatlantic canceled a deal last week to merge with Allied World Assurance Co Holdings AG amid investor opposition and has shunned an unsolicited offer from Validus Holdings Ltd. By sticking to its initial bid, Berkshire can protect its reputation for refusing to be pushed into less favorable terms, said Michael Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors, which invests in Buffett's firm.

 

"It shows discipline," Yoshikami said before Transatlantic's latest announcement. "They want to make sure that they don't undermine that discipline, because it actually then will cause companies in the future possibly to try to renegotiate."

Transatlantic dropped 96 cents, or two per cent, to $47.81 at 4:15 pm in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.