Tunisia: Maghrebia acquisition could lead to merger of insurers
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Feb 2023
The Maghrebia group has acquired a 23% stake in GAT Assurances from the private equity firm AfricInvest. The purchase paves the way for a merger between the two companies.
The deal was approved by the General Insurance Committee (CGA) in December 2022.
The acquisition was made by Assurances Maghrebia together with its life insurance subsidiary Maghrebia Vie whose shares started trading on the Bourse de Tunis in late December 2022.
CGA president Hafedh El Gharbi indicated to Africanmanager that with 24 insurers, including a reinsurer, operating in the country, the market is fragmented. “As a regulator, we are pushing towards consolidation of the market,” he said.
He added, “In the case of Maghrebia, they clearly say that they are taking a position, with the intention of a rapprochement, a marriage or a merger between the two companies in the future.
“They were already in discussions with another company, looking for an alliance, always with the aim of giving themselves the critical size necessary to meet the regulatory challenges and deal with the crisis that the whole country is experiencing, where there is no more room for small insurers.”
He said, “We, therefore, understand that we could move towards a merger between GAT-Maghrebia and their life subsidiaries, which would give birth to an insurance giant with a turnover of at least TND500m ($160m).”
The Maghrebia and GAT groups rank third and fourth in 2021 in terms of turnover with respective revenues of TND294m and TND255m. M