Shares in insurer Beazley PLC (LSE:BEZ) surged after Swiss giant Zurich went public with a takeover bid valued at 1,280p per share in cash.
This price is a 56% premium to Beazley's closing price on Friday and a 32% premium to its all-time high.
Beazley shares jumped 43% to 1,176.87p after the Swiss giant put out a statement containing its new proposed offer.
Zurich said a previous proposal of 1,230p made on 4 January was rejected by the FTSE 100 company's board as significantly undervaluing the business.
Beazley confirmed this in its own statement and said its board will consider Zurich's improved proposal and urged shareholders to take no action in the meantime.
The Swiss insurer, which is valued at 83.94 billion Swiss francs (£78.5 billion), said the new proposal "provides full value for Beazley across all relevant metrics, and is designed to facilitate prompt engagement".
"Zurich believes that its proposal provides Beazley shareholders immediate and certain cash value for their investment at a level that exceeds what Beazley could achieve over a reasonable timeframe through the execution of its strategy (as set out at Beazley's Capital Markets Day on 25 November 2025), and fully reflects Beazley's fundamental value."
Beazley has not yet responded publicly to either bid.
In November, the insurer said it planned to deploy $500 million of capital to build out a new Bermuda platform to support growth from 2026 onwards, expanding into the alternative risk transfer market.