Aspen Insurance Holdings CEO Chris O’Kane yesterday told analysts that his company is committed to its stand-alone plan — but conceded that there are many companies that would make potential merger partners, other than Endurance Specialty Holdings which has made an unsolicited bid for Aspen.

In a conference call to discuss Aspen’s first-quarter results, Mr O’Kane took the opportunity to describe the $3.2 billion Endurance bid that came to light last week as “a gross undervaluation” of the company.

He did not answer an analyst’s question on whether there had been any other bids, but did sum up the attributes of what he would view to be an appropriate potential partner.

Asked whether he thought there were potential suitors that would make a good strategic fit and who were also financially capable of paying a fair price for the company, Mr O’Kane replied: “I’ve no doubt there are loads of such people out there, however what we’re doing is running a successful independent business.”

Endurance revealed its offer last week and said Aspen’s board had rejected several invitations to discuss the potential merger over the past three months.

Chairman and CEO John Charman told this newspaper that he believed the combination would be “extraordinarily complementary”, with only slight overlap, creating a strong business mix and the opportunity for slimming down Aspen’s “bloated infrastructure”. He said the Aspen board’s refusal to talk with Endurance indicated a disregard for shareholders’ interests.

Mr O’Kane told his very different view to analysts yesterday. “Endurance represents a remarkably poor strategic fit for Aspen,” Mr O’Kane said. “The $47.50 proposal is a gross undervaluation of our stock. The proposal comes with significant execution risk and material unanswered questions about financing.”

Asked what a potential merger partner would look like, Mr O’Kane said: “It would be a partner that has seen the road that we want to go down and has gone down it already, to an extent that we have not done.” That would mean a company that could expand Aspen’s presence in the Lloyd’s market, the UK regional market or the US specialty market, he added.

However, he was adamant that Aspen had a “great stand-alone plan” on which was focused on delivering and that its investments in recent years, particularly in expanding its US insurance operations, were starting to bear fruit.

“We have a stock that has trailed the value of the company,” Mr O’Kane said. “We’ve been slow in coming forward to talk about the investments we’ve made. Now is a good time to do it, when they’re beginning to pay off.

“What we’re showing the market is ‘you haven’t seen anything yet’. You’re going to see a vastly more profitable and successful Aspen business, which we think the market will recognise and that we think is the surest and safest way to create value for our shareholders.”

In a letter to the Endurance board of directors, made public last week, Aspen said it was in litigation over the alleged poaching of employees by Endurance.

An analyst asked whether there had been any changes to key employees’ employment contracts, such as retention agreements, in light of the Endurance bid.

Mr O’ Kane replied that the company had not had to do “anything of that nature so far”, but “we’ll have a look on a case-by-case basis”.

He added that Aspen staff were very happy working for the firm.

“They really want to work here, they like the company and the respect they’re given, they like the fact that it’s not a command-control type of organisation, they like being professional people who have autonomy and are trusted to do their jobs well, so flight risk is very low for us.”