Europe

Amlin calls off Chaucer bid approach

Lloyd's insurer Amlin has called off a possible offer for fellow Lloyd's underwriter Chaucer after completing due diligence. In a press release Amlin said that “sufficient value for its shareholders could not be created by proceeding with a transaction”. For its part, Chaucer said that it remained committed to maintaining its previously announced progressive dividend policy, which aims to increase dividends by about 10% a year through to 2008. Trading in all areas for the year to date had been encouraging, Chaucer added. When the proposed deal was first announced at the beginning of June, Amlin said that it believed there was a strong case for a combined operation, which would benefit from being the leading independent group operating at Lloyd's. It noted, too, that Chaucer would also bring some new lines to Amlin's portfolio and economies of scale could be achieved.