PartnerRe has rejected an unsolicited $6.4 billion takeover offer from Italy's Exor, opting to stick with merger partner Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. Enhanced merger terms with Axis will allow reinsurer PartnerRe to pay a one-time special dividend of $11.50 a share, according to a statement from Bermuda-based PartnerRe.

PartnerRe over the past three weeks “engaged extensively with Exor and conducted a very careful and thorough evaluation of the many aspects of their proposal, including price,” chairman Jean-Paul Montupet said in the statement. “Throughout these discussions, Exor made it abundantly clear that it was not willing to adjust its price.”

Axis said in January that a combination with PartnerRe would create the world’s fifth- largest property-and-casualty reinsurer. – (Bloomberg)