Key Factors
- Sanlam Life Insurance coverage features Competitors Tribunal approval to amass Assupol Holdings, with completion anticipated by October 2024.
- Sanlam’s acquisition goals to boost service capabilities in South Africa’s monetary sector by integrating Assupol into its retail mass cluster.
- Bidvest and IFC, which maintain stakes in Assupol, will assist the acquisition’s completion as they exit their investments.
Sanlam Life Insurance coverage, a subsidiary of Sanlam, a number one insurer partly owned by Africa’s first Black billionaire Patrice Motsepe, has secured the Competitors Tribunal’s approval for its R6.5 billion ($365 million) acquisition of Assupol Holdings. This approval, granted with an employment-related situation, represents an development in Sanlam’s strategic enlargement.
Sanlam’s acquisition, first revealed in February, is slated for completion by October 2024. The mixing of Assupol into Sanlam’s retail mass cluster—which incorporates Sanlam Sky, Safrican, and a three way partnership with Capitec—goals to boost its service capabilities inside South Africa’s monetary sector.
Strategic transfer amidst Bidvest and IFC divestment
This transaction comes after Bidvest Proprietary Restricted and the Worldwide Finance Company (IFC)—which maintain 46.02 % and 19.41 % stakes in Assupol, respectively—introduced their intention to divest following a decade-long funding. Each entities have dedicated to supporting the resolutions needed for executing the scheme of the association, facilitating Sanlam’s acquisition.
Upon the deal’s finalization, Sanlam will assume full management of Assupol, a notable shift in South Africa’s insurance coverage trade. Sanlam, based in 1918 and boasting a market capitalization of over $10.1 billion on the Johannesburg Inventory Alternate, is a key identify within the monetary sector. Patrice Motsepe, Africa’s first Black billionaire, holds a 7.8-percent stake in Sanlam by way of his funding automobile, Ubuntu-Botho Investments, and serves because the deputy chairman.
Sanlam enhances market place in South Africa
Sanlam Life, a completely owned subsidiary of Sanlam Restricted, which is listed on the Johannesburg, Namibian, and A2X inventory exchanges, offers a variety of monetary providers. These embrace life and non-life insurance coverage, monetary planning, retirement options, funding, and wealth administration. The corporate operates in Africa, India, Malaysia, and different areas. Not too long ago, Sanlam fashioned a $1.9 billion three way partnership with Allianz SE to broaden its African footprint.
Assupol, listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange, showcased strong monetary efficiency for the yr ending June 30, 2023. The corporate’s embedded worth surpassed R7 billion ($393.8 million), with gross insurance coverage premiums exceeding R5 billion ($281.4 million) and a solvency cowl ratio of 179 %.
Via its subsidiaries—Assupol Life and Assupol Funding—Assupol affords a variety of insurance coverage and funding merchandise to purchasers throughout South Africa. The acquisition will strengthen Sanlam’s place within the South African insurance coverage market, enhancing its skill to satisfy the continent’s monetary wants.
