ACE Limited, a Swiss company domiciled in Zurich, has completed its acquisition of The Chubb Corporation, a US company domiciled in Warren (New Jersey) on 14 January 2016, creating the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company, with operations in 54 countries and approximately 30,000 employees. Based on the most recent closing price of ACE Limited shares and the outstanding shares of The Chubb Corporation, the final deal value was USD 29.5 billion, paid in cash and stock. The acquisition was effected through a complex cross-border triangular merger which was previously approved by the shareholders of both companies. On the day following the closing, ACE Limited has been renamed into Chubb Limited and started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CB". The company also launched the new Chubb brand and is adopting the new name globally.
In this transaction, Bär & Karrer acted as Swiss counsel to ACE Limited focusing on Swiss corporate and tax issues, while Sullivan & Cromwell LLP was ACE Limited's lead counsel. The Bär & Karrer team was led by Urs Kägi and Rolf Watter (M&A, Corporate) and included Daniel Küpfer and Michael Bänziger (M&A, Corporate), Daniel Lehmann, Peter Reinarz and Andreas Steffen (Tax), and Peter Hsu (Insurance Regulatory Law).