National Interstate Corp. on Wednesday said the special committee of its board of directors has unanimously rejected a verbal proposal from Great American Insurance Co. to buy the outstanding shares of the specialty property/casualty insurance holding company for $30.75 per share.
On June 27, Great American boosted its bid by 2.5%, to $30.75, from its March offer of $30 per share, or about $293 million. American Financial and Great American currently have about a 51% stake in National Interstate, according to Crain’s Cleveland Business, a sister publication of Business Insurance.
American Financial made a similar offer for National Interstate in 2014, but a deal never came to fruition.
The American Financial offer was made on March 7. At the time, the $30-per-share price represented a 32.7% premium over National Interstate’s closing price of $22.61 on Friday, March 4, Crain’s Cleveland reported.
“After careful consideration,” National Interstate said in a statement, “the special committee determined that the revised offer is inadequate and is not in the best interest of the minority shareholders of the company.”
Richfield, Ohio-based National Interstate said the special committee intends to continue considering available options, including remaining a public company and negotiating with Great American for a better offer.
“There can be no assurance that such discussions will result in an offer that can be supported by the company,” National Interstate said.
Great American is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cincinnati-based American Financial Group Inc.
(Reuters) — U.S. Republican presidential front-runner candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled proposals for reforming U.S. health care that included repealing the Affordable Care Act, allowing prescription drugs to be imported and turning the Medicaid program for the poor into block grants to states.