Insurance company Delta Lloyd has rejected a €5.30 per share offer by sector peer NN, saying it is not in the interest of its shareholders.

NN presented its offer to the management and supervisory boards on Sunday and went public with the offer, worth €2.4bn, on Wednesday.

Analysts had already speculated that the offer would be rejected and said NN, which owns the Nationale-Nederlanden brand, may have to go up to €5.80 per share to win approval.

In a statement, Delta Lloyd chief executive Hans van der Noordaa said the company had a clear strategy and had made good progress so far this year.

Opportunistic

‘Our capital position is now solid with opportunity to improve further capital generation and dividends,’ he said. ‘In light of this, we cannot accept this proposal.’

The proposal ‘substantially undervalues Delta Lloyd, its prospects and its strategic opportunities’, its timing is opportunistic and it ‘fails to reflect an appropriate share of benefits of Dutch consolidation’, the statement said.

In addition, the offer represents a 29% premium on Delta Lloyd’s closing price on October 30. This is lower than standard in the market, the statement said.

NN, which was spun off by ING in 2014, is expected to come out with a response later on Friday.