Morocco: Saham-Sanlam deal gets all the necessary approvals
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Oct 2018
The $1.05-bn Saham-Sanlam deal has received all the necessary approvals from regulators, reported Médias24 citing unnamed sources. This means all authorisations have been obtained for all the African countries concerned, including Morocco.
South Africa headquartered Sanlam, a leading pan-African financial services group, aims to own 100% of Saham Finance, which controls Saham Assurance. The $1.05-bn deal is for the remaining stake of 53.4% in Saham that Sanlam does not already own. Morocco’s Saham Assurance is the biggest insurer on the continent outside of South Africa. It has business in 26 countries in Africa through more than 30 insurance companies and around 700 sales points.
The deal, reached on 7 March, will make Sanlam the largest non-banking financial services group in Africa. Sanlam’s strategy is to become the leading insurer in Africa, and the deal would result in an ownership footprint in 19 additional countries while broadening Sanlam’s presence to 33 countries.
Saham has agreements, at least verbally, with regulators of the 26 countries in which it has a presence, according to market reports. In Morocco, Saham has a written agreement from the insurance regulator, the Supervisory Authority for Insurance and Social Security (ACAPS).
The Moroccan green light, essential for the sale, was obtained around the end of July. The transaction had been scheduled to close in July or November, at the latest.
Sanlam, together with subsidiary Santam, first acquired a joint 30% stake in Saham in 2016 and increased that stake by a further 16.6% in 2017. M