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Validus withdraws Transatlantic offer

Bermuda reinsurer Validus Holdings today withdrew its offer for American peer Transatlantic Holdings, ending a months-long hostile takeover battle.Validus launched its offer in July, attempting to break up a deal Transatlantic already had with Allied World Assurance Co Holdings Ltd.Last week, Transatlantic’s board, which had repeatedly rebuffed Validus, accepted a $3.4 billion stock and cash deal from property and casualty insurer Alleghany Corp.While it succeeded in derailing the Allied deal, which was called off in September, Validus was ultimately unable to woo Transatlantic’s management or its shareholders.In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Validus said it would return about 7.7 million Transatlantic shares, representing a 13.4 percent stake in the company, tendered in the offer to the shareholders.In the filing, Validus said certain condition to its tender offer, which expired last Friday, were not satisfied. The filing did not say what Validus intended to do about its lawsuits against Transatlantic or its consent solicitation to replace the company’s board.While the Validus offer was actually worth more than the Alleghany bid on paper, the break-up fee in the Alleghany deal all but wiped out Validus’s financial advantage.Had Validus succeeded, it would have been the second time in two years it won a hostile bid for a peer, after snapping up reinsurer IPC in 2009.