The post Beazley Stock Soars 8.7% on Zurich’s £8B Bid appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

London stocks opened mostly higher on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 rising 0.94% to 10,412.13 in early trade and touching a new intraday record of 10,383.43. The benchmark extended gains after Beazley shares surged on news of a potential £8.0 billion takeover by Zurich Insurance. In contrast, the FTSE 250 slipped 0.1% to 23,269.25, while the AIM All-Share gained 0.4%. Elsewhere across UK markets, the Cboe UK 100 climbed 0.5%, the Cboe UK 250 edged up 0.1%, and the Cboe Small Companies index added 0.1%. What drove the divergence between large-cap strength and broader market caution? Beazley Surges on Zurich Takeover Offer Beazley led the FTSE 100 after its shares jumped 8.7%. Zurich Insurance tabled a cash offer of 1,310 pence per share, with a permitted dividend lifting the total value to 1,335p. That price implied a premium of more than 60% to Beazley’s market value before takeover talks emerged in January. Source: Zurich Insurance via X Both firms said the deal would create a global specialty insurance platform with roughly £15 billion in gross written premiums. Beazley’s board signaled its intention to recommend the offer if Zurich confirms a firm bid. Zurich has until February 16 to make a binding announcement. AI Concerns Weigh on Software Stocks While insurers lifted the index, technology-linked stocks faced renewed pressure. London Stock Exchange Group fell 5.8%, Sage Group declined 3.8%, and Relx slipped 2.8%. Investors reacted to fresh concerns about artificial intelligence disrupting data, research, and analytics businesses. Market participants pointed to the rollout of a new AI tool by Anthropic, backed by Amazon and Google, which triggered fears of accelerated competition in legal, financial, and corporate research services. As a result, confidence across software and data-driven stocks weakened further. The pullback followed similar declines on Wall Street, where the Nasdaq closed…

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Filed under: News - @ February 4, 2026 10:28 am