Mansard Moves to Acquire Penman Pensions Limited

Mansard

Goddy Egene

Mansard Insurance Plc is to acquire 60 per cent of Penman Pensions Limited, a pension fund administrator. In a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mansard said it intended to acquire the PFA and operate it as its subsidiary in the pension industry.

According to Mansard, it has obtained regulatory approvals from the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is in the process of completing the transaction.

Market analysts said this is another positive development for  Mansard that is coming a few days after French group, AXA   acquired 77 per cent stake in the insurance firm.

AXA acquired 77 per cent   Assur Africa Holding Limited (AAH)’s stake in Mansard Insurance Plc.

The French group is already in Morocco, the second-largest African insurance market, and several other French-speaking countries.

This transaction would allow AXA to enter the highly attractive Nigerian market while Mansard would be able to capitalise on AXA’s extended distribution knowledge, unique product skills and actuarial know-how, to accelerate further its development and leverage its competitive advantages.

Speaking on the acquisition, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of AXA, Denis Duverne, said: “This 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.”

On his part, Managing Director, Mansard, Mrs. Tosin Runsewe said: “We are delighted to join the AXA Group, a global leader in Life & Savings, Property & Casualty and Asset Management. It is indeed a befitting home for the Mansard Group given our leading position in the same business lines within Nigeria and our unflinching drive to consistently create exceptional value for all our stakeholders. Leveraging on our complementary strengths as well as common values and long-term vision, we can now deliver even higher levels of product innovation, underwriting capacity and operational excellence to our corporate and retail clients. We view with much excitement the opportunity to bring our strong entrepreneurial orientation to bear in delivering on AXA’s sub-Saharan African expansionary ambitions.”