in May 2022, the Sanlam groups and Allianz announced the creation of a joint venture valued at more than 2 billion dollars, which would focus on insurance services in Africa.
The South African group hopes to finalize the operation in early September 2023.
The merger of the pan-African activities of the South African insurer Sanlam and the German group Allianz could be completed within the next 12 months, according to a commitment made to investors by Sanlam’s management during a briefing on Thursday 8 September.
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The operation announced last May is still subject to regulatory approvals in the countries where these two groups operate on the continent.
The creation of this joint venture is strategic for the South African insurer who declared that the effective launch of this joint venture “will create an unparalleled platform in Africa, with significant capabilities in terms of customer mobilization”.
Several other acquisitions in prospect
Sanlam will hold a 60% stake in it. This should allow it to consolidate its position as the leading insurer on the African continent. Especially since this merger does not involve the South African activities which are by far the most important, as well as the subsidiaries in Namibia, and the pan-African reinsurance company Continental Re acquired following the takeover of the Moroccan group Saham.
The merger of pan-African activities with Allianz is one of the actions implemented by the South African financial group to continue to gain market share in sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa. By the end of 2022, Sanlam also plans to complete several other acquisitions made in the investment sector, taking over entities belonging to the wealth manager Alexander Forbes and to Barclays Bank Africa.