The head of PartnerRe Global yesterday said that European buyers had welcomed takeover by Italian investment giants Exor.

Charles Goldie, CEO of PartnerRe Global, said that the deal gave the company security over its long-term future.

He added it had also removed the integration problems and likely redundancies if a rival bid from Axis Capital had been successful and that a European parent would help boost business on the continent.

Mr Goldie said: “It means we are out of the mergers and acquisitions game and we can instead simply focus on what we do well.

“Any distractions are completely removed and, because we have not been acquired by another reinsurer, there are no integration issues to contend with.

“Our clients know they will be dealing with the same underwriters and leaders they have always done. That is a great position to be in.”

Mr Goldie was speaking to Intelligent Insurer at a conference in Baden-Baden in Germany.

He said that clients understood that Exor, the investment arm of the billionaire Agnelli family, which controls car maker Fiat Chrysler, wanted to enter the reinsurance market.

Mr Goldie explained: “It is not interested in going into the primary side and potentially competing with them, which is what you are seeing with some other deals.”

Mr Goldie added that under private ownership the firm would also be freed of the pressure of quarterly earnings targets and conference calls with analysts.

He said: “It means we can take more of a long-term approach. That constant pressure to set and hit targets will be removed.”

And Mr Goldie added that the Exor name would open doors to more business in Europe.

He said: “We are a Bermuda company, but we diversified from an early stage. We became multiline and global very early on through acquisitions and have pioneered in some areas in our industry, such as enterprise risk management.

“We will remain a global, diversified company but having a European parent will certainly not hurt our case in Europe.”

Mr Goldie added the pace of rate reductions and the extent to which clients were changing their programmes had slowed.

He said: “We have been seeing more structured deals and aggregate covers but many buyers are thinking more long-term now.

“Some have been very vocal about having smaller panels and long-term relationships. Some have cut it down to five or six players.

“We certainly like the idea of working long-term and we don’t have to worry about quarterly earnings targets any more, but equally we will work in the way our cedants want to work. We are adaptable to their needs.”