PARIS (Reuters) - Thierry Derez, chief executive of Covea, has resigned from the board of rival Scor (SCOR.PA), which rejected a takeover bid from the French cooperative insurer, the companies said on Tuesday. Scor rejected a 8.2 billion euro ($9.2 billion) takeover bid from Covea in September, after which Derez temporarily withdrew from his position as a director of Scor due to a conflict of interest. “Covea notes the persistent refusal of any dialogue of Scor SE with its largest shareholder, which will no longer be represented on the Board of Directors,” Covea said in a statement. Covea is Scor’s largest shareholder with an 8.2 percent stake, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Covea also said Scor had placed “obstacles” in the way of Derez in the performance of his duties as a director. In a separate statement Scor said it had asked Derez several times to resign as a director and had referred the issue to France’s High Committee Of Corporate Governance (HCGE), which issued a notice saying Derez could no longer occupy the role of director. “The company (Scor) simply asked him to take the consequences of the unacceptable conflict of interest in which he placed himself,” said Scor, adding that it had not placed any obstacles in the way of Derez. Reporting by Alan Charlish in Gdynia; Editing by Bate Felix; Editing by Edmund Blair
The CEO of French insurance conglomerate Covea has resigned from the board of fellow insurer SCOR following a failed takeover attempt led by his company . SCOR had rejected an acquisition offer from Covea in 2010 . The offer is said to have been worth € 8.2bn ( $ US ) . Former CEO Thierry Derez had previously temporarily withdrawn from his position on SCOR 's board , citing a conflict of interest . Covea is SCOR 's largest shareholder , owning roughly an 80 % stake of the company .