AXIS announces $750 million share repurchase authorisation

The AXIS Capital board of directors has authorised the repurchase of up to $750 million common shares, the company announced today, in open market or privately negotiated transactions. This new authorisation, effective January 1, 2014, will replace the existing authorisation which has approximately $308.9 million remaining.

In addition the board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per common share, an eight percent increase. The dividend will be payable on January 15, 2014 to the shareholders of record at the close of business on December 31, 2013.

Albert Benchimol, president and CEO of AXIS Capital, said: “AXIS Capital is committed to intelligent capital management considering the interests of all of our stakeholders, including both clients and shareholders.”

He continued: “over the ten years since our IPO, AXIS Capital has repurchased approximately 78 million shares in open market or private transactions for a total of $2.6 billion. So far in 2013, we have already purchased 10.1 million shares at a total cost of $441 million, out of the $750 million authorisation given last December. We are pleased this new authorisation will provide us with the flexibility to continue to return capital to shareholders into 2015.”