Sompo Holdings said a wholly owned subsidiary of Sompo International Holdings has an agreement in place t
o acquire Aspen Insurance Holdings for about $3.5 billion to further its geographical reach outside of its home territory.
Tokyo-based Sompo early this year announced the restructuring
of its business into two segments—one being Sompo P&C, with James Shea appointed chief executive officer.
“To accelerate capital circulation management and collaboration across the Sompo Group, we established Sompo
P&C and appointed James Shea as its CEO. This transaction is an excellent example of those initiatives in action,” s
aid Sompo Group CEO Mikio Okumura, in a statement.
Related: Sompo Holdings Restructures Business Into 2 Global Segments
With Aspen, Sompo gets a specialty and reinsurance fran
chise with over $4.6 billion in annual gross written premiums in lines o
f business such as cyber, credit and political risk, inland marine, U.K. property and construction, and U.S. management liability.
“Strategic acquisitions have been a key part of our growth plan to build a robust and diversified global P/C plat
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form, and Aspen represents an excellent opportunity at the right time in the market cycle,” said Shea. “We lo
ok forward to welcoming the team from Aspen as we bring our organiz
ations together, recognizing that the property/casualty market continues to value platforms that can underwrite and manage capital and risk at scale—and with exceptional skill.”
Sompo also gains Aspen experience in global casualty, property, property catastrophe, and specialty reinsura
nce lines. Aspen Lloyd’s syndicate provides access to complex risks and reinsurance licensing across markets u
ntapped by Sompo in the the Americas, U.K., Europe, and Asia Pacific.
Sompo said it will look to integrate Aspen’s business with its overseas insurance business to pursue further expa
nsion opportunities together across developed markets.
The purchase price represents a value for Aspen shares of $37.50, which is a 35.6% premium to the share price of $2
7.66 on August 19, which was the last day before talk of the transaction, according to Sompo.
Aspen Group CEO and Executive Chairman Mark Cloutier said the transaction “represents an excellent outcom
e for Aspen and our shareholders…Sompo’s scale and capital strength will create significant opportunities for our customers, trading partners and colleagues.”
“We look forward to sharing more details as we work towards completion, while maintaining our focus on continuin
g to deliver great service and products for our customers,” he added.
The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2026. The companies’ boards have each unanimously approved the transaction.
(Editor’s Note: First paragraph corrected on Aug. 28 to reflect that a wholly owned subsidiary of Sompo International Holdings is involved in the transaction of Aspen.)