Specialty property/casualty insurer rejects takeover proposal

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.