Beazley has agreed to a takeover bid by Zurich after the insurance giant increased its bid to £8billion.

In a statement, the insurers said Zurich had raised its offer to 1,310p per share and would offer a 25p dividend prior to completion of the deal.

Beazley’s board said that the ‘financial terms of the proposal are at a level that it would be minded to recommend to Beazley shareholders’.

If the permitted dividend is declared and paid in full, shareholders will receive approximately £8billion.

Beazley, which was set up in 1986 and joined the stock market in 2002, is based in London and has operations in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia.

Zurich first approached Beazley over a takeover last year, valuing the company at 1,315p per share, but the offer was not made public.

The Swiss insurance giant lodged another bid for Beazley in January, offering 1,230p per share, which the FTSE 100 firm rejected. Zurich took its next offer public, offering 1,280p per share to value the company at approximately £7.7billion.

Beazley said both bids undervalued the company and its ‘longer-term prospects as an independent company’.

The new offer represents a 62.8 per cent premium on Beazley’s closing share price of 820p on 16 January, the last day prior to the offer period, and 34.6 per cent higher than the company’s all-time high share price.

Zurich has until 16 February to make a firm offer and if approved, would create a platform with $15billion (£10.9bn) in gross premiums.

Shares in Beazley jumped nearly 9 per cent to 1,260p at the open.