Swiss Re would not be against anchor shareholder
Swiss Re AG [VTX:SREN], the Swiss reinsurer, is not against having an anchor shareholder, Frankfurter Allgemeine reported. The German daily cited Swiss Re Chief Executive Christian Mumenthaler who said an anchor shareholder is not a bad thing as the business is more demanding than others with periods of high volatility. Mumenthaler declined to comment directly on the state of talks with Japanese Softbank Group Corp. [TYO:9984] stating he is not able to add to the press release issued recently.
Softbank is thought to be interested in a minority stake of up to 30% which would cost around USD 10bn, the report stated.
The report said a long term investor would be welcomed by Swiss Re as it would hinder activist investors from putting the management under pressure with only 5% to 10% shareholdings.
Earlier this month, Swiss Re issued a press release confirming that it is engaged in preliminary discussions with Softbank regarding a potential minority investment in Swiss Re, and discussions are at a very early stage.