AXA, the world’s largest insurance company, has completed the acquisition of majority equity stake in Mansard Insurance Plc. The completion of the acquisition came as Mansard Insurance also acquired a majority equity stake in a pension fund administrator (PFA).
AXA bought 77 per cent majority equity stake in Mansard Insurance Plc, in a major market-entry push that promises to profoundly impact the Nigerian insurance industry. AXA already has a substantial presence in Africa including Cameroon, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal and Algeria.
Regulatory sources said the acquisition was completed last week with the transfer of the ownership stake to AXA. AXA took over the 77 per cent equity stake held by Assur Africa Holding Limited (AAH), the core investor that had purchased the former Guaranty Trust Bank insurance subsidiary. GTBank had sold its insurance subsidiary, Guaranty Trust Assurance Plc, in compliance with regulatory framework of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
AXA had entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Assur Africa Holdings, which holds the 77 per cent equity stake in Mansard. AAH is made up of Development Partners International (UK), Africinvest Inc (Tunisia), Netherlands Development Finance Company (Holland), German Investment Corporation (Germany), French Development Finance Company (France) and ASPV Limited.
However, the acquisition would only result in the change of beneficial ownership of the 77 per cent equity stake in Mansard Insurance while the legal ownership of the shares remains.
The change of majority core investor in Mansard Insurance came as the insurance company begins the completion process for the acquisition of majority equity stake in a PFA. Mansard Insurance would be acquiring 60 per cent of the issued and paid up share capital of Penman Pensions Limited.
Mansard has already obtained regulatory approvals from National Pension Commission (Pencom), National Insurance Commission (Naicom) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and it has also notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
With the regulatory approval, there are indications that the insurance company would complete the acquisition transaction in the next few days.
Mansard Insurance plans to operate the PFA independently as a subsidiary in the pension sector, the same strategy it had used in earlier acquisition of a health management organisation (HMO). Mansard Insurance had in 2013 acquired the entire issued share capital of Procare Health Plan Nigeria Limited as it sought to consolidate its health insurance business.
In a statement on its website, AXA stated that the acquisition of a majority stake in Mansard Insurance would further strengthen its presence in Africa. It will also, at this entry point, become the fourth largest insurance player in Nigeria.
Deputy chief executive officer, AXA, Denis Duverne, said the acquisition is a unique opportunity for AXA to enter the largest African economy with leading positions in all business lines and to get exposure to the fast-growing Nigerian retail insurance market.
“AXA will benefit locally from the knowledge of an experienced and successful management team and from a profitable platform. Thus, this transaction represents a further step in our acceleration strategy, which is at the heart of our Ambition AXA plan, and is in line with our belief that insurance is instrumental to foster economic development, by providing communities with protection and risk management expertise,” Duverne said.
AXA noted that Mansard is the fourth largest insurance provider in Nigeria with operations in both property and casualty and life and savings, pointing out that Mansard is well established in commercial lines, which represents nearly two thirds of its revenues, and has been developing successfully its retail business over the past three years.
