French insurer AXA said Monday it had bought XL Group, a Bermuda-based property and casualty insurer, for about $15.3 billion (12.4 billion euros).
It said the deal would enable the group to become the number one insurer in the global property and casualty commercial lines business.
The cash transaction, which has been agreed by the boards of both companies, is expected to be completed in the second half of this year, AXA said in a statement.
The purchase price of $57.60 represents a premium of 33 percent over XL's closing share price on Friday.
"The combination of AXA's and XL Group's existing position will propel the Group to the #1 global position in P&C commercial lines with combined 2016 revenues of 30 billion euros and total P&C revenues of 48 billion euros."
