Beazley to buy back debt

17th Oct 2012 10:30

Specialist insurer Beazley is to buy back some of its fixed/floating rate notes due 2026 by means of a modified Dutch auction.Holders of the notes are invited to name their price for the notes they hold. There are £150m worth of notes in issue, and Beazley intends to buy back up to £25m of them.The minimum purchase price will be 92% of redemption value. Beazley will also pay an amount equal to accrued and unpaid interest on the relevant notes accepted for purchase. Although the tender offer uses the Dutch auction principle of sellers undercutting each other, there will only be one selling price, which means all sellers whose offers are accepted will get the same price; the trick will be bidding low enough to beat the cut off point. Bids may be scaled back on a pro rata basis should demand be high. JH