Italian company Exor has stirred up corporate activity in the reinsurance world with a takeover bid for reinsurer PartnerRe, which in January announced plans to merge with Axis Capital.

Exor, a listed holding company controlled by the wealthy Agnelli family which has majority stakes in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and soccer club Juventus, says it wants to expand in financial services.

Its $US6.4 billion ($8.4 billion) cash bid is 16% more than the implied value of the share deal between Axis and PartnerRe, and Exor chairman and CEO John Elkann says it offers the certainty of cash and better value.

“Exor has invested successfully in the insurance and reinsurance sectors for more than two decades, including as a minority investor in PartnerRe when it was formed in 1993, and believes there is significant long-term potential for a global reinsurer such as PartnerRe,” he said.

Exor could pump capital into PartnerRe.