Everest Reinsurance Holdings Inc.

Everest Re's shares rose sharply on Friday on renewed speculation that the reinsurer may be a takeover target.

Speculation about a possible deal was triggered when the company cancelled a July 27 conference call late on Thursday about its second quarter earnings with analysts and investors.

The Liberty Corner, New Jersey-based company said it is scheduled to release second quarter earnings on July 26 after the stock market closes.

The share price of Everest Re rose 2-1/16, or more than six percent, to 34-3 late on Friday.

An Everest Re spokeswoman said the company cancelled the conference call because of scheduling conflicts.

But the reinsurance industry worldwide has been undergoing massive consolidation in the past few years and the move sparked renewed speculation about a possible takeover of Everest Re, industry sources said.

Just last month, Trenwick Group Inc agreed to buy Chartwell Re Corp for about $368 million.

And Bermuda-based insurer XL Capital Ltd last month completed its acquistion of US reinsurer NAC Re Corp in a stock deal valued at about $1.01 billion.

Possible buyers for Everest could include Swiss Reinsurance Co.; Employers Reinsurance Corp, a unit of General Electric Co's GE Capital; Transatlantic Holdings Inc, ACE Ltd and Axa-UAP , industry sources said.