The Italian company that won a bidding war for Bermuda’s PartnerRe reinsurance firm has bought up a $448 million stake in a prestigious British business magazine.

Exor, controlled by the billionaire Agnelli family, has become the largest shareholder in The Economist magazine after former owners Pearson sold its half of the 172-year-old publication for $731 million.

The Exor move boosted its share in the Economist Group to 43.4 per cent from 4.7 per cent.

The stake in The Economist held by the Rothschild banking dynasty also increased, from 21 per cent to 26 per cent, while Pearson’s remaining holding will be repurchased by the Economist Group for $284 million.

Exor earlier this year beat off a rival bid by Axis for control of Partner Re, which it bought in a near $7 billion deal, the largest transaction by Exor in more than 100 years.

The Economist stable includes the magazine, the Economist Intelligence Unit and other titles like CQ Roll Call. Ian Whittaker, a media analyst at Liberum Capital in London, said: “The families that own these stakes see themselves as protectors of The Economist and its values. They see themselves as guarantors of a legacy.”

Exor added that, subject to a shareholder vote, the governance rules of The Economist would be amended to limit the voting powers of any single shareholder to 20 per cent, and to ensure that no one individual or company can own more than 50 per cent of the group’s shares.

The Economist Group reported $93.6 million in profits on sales of sales of $512 million in the year to March.

The flagship The Economist, which has been edited in London since 1843, has a circulation of around 1.6 million.

The deal further reduces the reliance of Exor, which controls the giant Fiat Chrysler auto group, on the vehicle industry.

Exor CEO John Elkann said: “Our strong belief in the merits of this investment is all the greater given The Economist’s decision to join us by investing in its own shares.”

He added: “We are convinced of the huge potential that still lies ahead and particularly in The Economist’s ability to seize the many development opportunities linked to the digitisation of the media industry,”

The Italian firm also controls Turin-based daily newspaper La Stampa and is the biggest investor in the Italian RCS Media Group, which publishes the country’s biggest newspaper, Corriere della Serra.