Scor is to take legal action against Covéa, a former director, Barclays and Rothschild after Covéa revealed it was abandoning plans to take over the French reinsurer.
Scor’s hotly disputed acquisition by compatriot Covéa came to a head today after Covéa issued statement saying a transaction with Scor “is no longer part of its strategic options”.
This prompted a sharp fall in Scor’s share price to €35.51, or 14% below the previous day’s close, at 1430 CET today.
“Covéa takes note of Scor’s refusal to enter into any discussions in relation to Covéa’s proposed friendly transaction offer addressed on 24 August 2018. The continued attacks and hostile tactics targeting Covéa since then have intensified in the last few days,” Covea said.
The move provoked a strong response from Scor, which claimed it had not been informed of Covéa’s change of heart.
“Given the seriousness of the facts and evidence brought to the attention of Scor and its governance bodies relating to the misconduct committed to the detriment of Scor, in the context of the preparation and submission by Covéa of its unsolicited proposed combination with the Scor group, Scor has been compelled to initiate legal actions against Thierry Derez, Covéa SGAM and Covéa Coopérations as legal entities, Barclays (Covéa's financial advisor and financing bank) and Rothschild.”
Derez is chairman and chief executive of Covéa SGAM and was a non-executive director of Scor until he was forced to step down on 13 November 2018.
Scor said it will launch criminal actions against Derez and Covéa in the French courts, for breach of trust and concealment of breach of trust, respectively.
A civil action will be launched in London courts against Rothschild and Barclays for “serious breach of confidence and trade secrets”.
Further civil actions will be launched in Paris against Derez, for breach of his duties as a director of Scor, and against Covéa for having directly participated in and benefitted from the serious breaches by Derez.
Credit Suisse, another advisor to Covéa, will not face legal action after it withdrew support for the takeover in November 2018.
Scor has consistently rejected Covéa's overtures, describing the takeover bid as hostile.
In September, Scor chief executive Denis Kessler reiterated there was no desire for the firm to merge.
“People merge because they’re not profitable enough, because they are lacking resources or they need size or even solvency. We don’t need any of that,” he said at a briefing in Monte Carlo.
Covéa is Scor's largest shareholder, owning a 8.18% capital stake, ahead of Allianz Global Investors (5.63%).