Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. (AHL) said Tuesday that it has entered into an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Goldman, Sachs & Co. (GS) to repurchase an aggregate of $150 million of Aspen's ordinary shares under an accelerated share repurchase program.
From January 1 through February 26, Aspen also repurchased about $47 million of its ordinary shares in the open market.
Under the accelerated share repurchase agreement, Aspen will pay $150 million to Goldman in exchange for Aspen's ordinary shares. Aspen expects the substantial majority of shares to be delivered on March 1.
The total number of shares ultimately repurchased under the agreement will be determined based on a discount to the average daily volume-weighted average price of Aspen's ordinary shares during the ASR period. At settlement, Goldman may be obligated to deliver additional shares to Aspen, or Aspen may be obligated to make a delivery of shares or a payment of cash to Goldman, at Aspen's election. Aspen anticipates that all repurchases under the accelerated share repurchase will be completed no later than October 3
Based on Aspen's closing share price on February 26, the accelerated share repurchase program and the completed open market share repurchases from January 1 together represent about 8% of the company's current total market capitalization.
Aspen will have about $335 million remaining under its current $500 million share repurchase program authorized by the Board of Directors and announced on February 7.
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