By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Old Mutual, South African financial services firm said on Friday it had acquired a 23.3 percent stake in Kenyan insurer UAP Holdings for $97.6 million, the company said in a statement.
‘’The consideration will be paid in cash and will be funded from existing Group resources,’’ the company said.
According to Old Mutual, in Kenya, UAP has the third largest Property & Casualty (“P&C”) market share; the second largest health insurance business; a substantial property investment portfolio and a fast growing life insurance business.
Similarly, in Uganda, it has the second largest P&C and health insurance businesses, and the third largest life business. ‘’It also has P&C businesses in Rwanda, Tanzania and South Sudan, and a brokerage business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,’’ Old Mutual added.
Ralph Mupita, chief executive of Old Mutual Emerging Markets, said in a statement that UAP is an ideal and complementary fit to Old Mutual existing Kenyan businesses and looks forward to deepening and broadening its relationship in the future.
Old Mutual acquired the shares in UAP from Kenyan investment firm Centum and a Kenyan entrepreneur Christopher John Kirubi, a director and shareholder of Centum, who agreed to sell his 9.58 percent stake in UAP Holdings to the same buyer.
Centum CEO James Mworia said in a statement, “We are pleased to have been able to identify and sell our shares in UAP Group to a strategic investor, Old Mutual Group. The sale is in line with Centum’s mission to be Africa’s foremost investment channel by developing investment grade opportunities for other investors. Centum will continue developing other investment opportunities and delivering the same to both institutional and retail investors”
Centum has been an investor in UAP Group for over 10 years, over which time Centum together with the other shareholders and management of UAP Group has grown the Group to be one of the leading insurance and ?nancial services groups in East Africa, with headquarters in Nairobi and a network of branches and operational subsidiaries spread across the greater East and Central Africa region.
This is coming on the heels of Old Mutual’s expansion plans to Sub-Saharan Africa countries of Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, where it has spent 700 million rand ($60 million) of a 5 billion rand programme to acquire businesses.
