Sunu Assurances Vie Cote D’Ivorie, a leading Cote D’Ivoire insurance company, has completed the acquisition process for 28.2 per cent equity stake in Equity Assurance Plc, in a deal valued at N1.25 billion.
The transfer of the equities to Sunu Assurances was done last week at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Sunu Assurance acquired a total of 2.497 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each of Equity Assurance Plc, representing 28.2 per cent of the equity stakes held by Skye Financial Services and other shareholders of Equity Assurance.
Equity Assurance, which is quoted on the insurance sector of the NSE, currently has total issued shares of 8.847 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each trading at its nominal value of 50 kobo, representing total market capitalisation of N4.42 billion.
The transactions pushed Equity Assurance up as the most active stock for the week, with a turnover of 2.53 billion shares valued at N1.26 billion in 110 deals. The council of the NSE had earlier granted its “no-objection” to the acquisition.
Sustained depreciation of share prices of Nigerian quoted companies has made several companies targets of acquisitions. The low valuation is prominent in the insurance sector, where most companies are trading at their nominal value of 50 kobo.
The acquisition gave the Sunu Group a foothold in the Nigerian market. The group already has operations in 10 other African countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Senegal, Niger and Togo.
Sunu Life Insurance Côte d’Ivoire is the leading life insurance in Ivory Coast, with a turnover of over 24 billion CFA francs in late 2014. With focus on corporate and enterprise segment, Sunu Ivory Coast Life Insurance provides group pension products, group benefits and retirement benefits. It has also positioned as a leader in bancassurance and micro insurance simple with innovative products and operational efficiency.
Members of the Sunu Group included Avie and Kajas. Avie, a member since 2005, is in the top three market life insurance companies with a steady increase in sales. It was the first vendor to develop bancassurance in active partnership with the banking sector in Benin and two thirds of banks operating in the country now have at least one life insurance product managed by Avie.
Kajas Microfinance is a social purpose private company founded in June 2008 in Senegal. Its goal is to lead a sustainable and profitable business for socio-economic development of the people by allowing them to participate in income-generating activities and offering them access to decentralized financial services.
The reinsurers to Sunu Group included SCOR in France, Africa Reinsurance in Nigeria and CICA-Re in Togo.
Chairman, Equity Assurance Plc, Mr. Adetutu Buraimo, had hinted about the acquisition at the company’s 28th annual general meeting in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State
According to him, the company plans to seek for new equity investments from strategic investors.
Shareholders passed a resolution to increase the company’s authorised share capital from N7 billion to N10 billion.
The acquisition comes on the heels of recent rebound in the performance of Equity Assurance, which recovered from a loss of N365 million in 2013 with a profit of N310 million in 2014.
He said the group recorded a total premium of N4.846 billion in 2014 as against N4.616 billion in 2013 while the company’s solvency also improved as shareholders’ funds increased by four per cent to almost N4 billion.
He reiterated the commitment of the board to delivering return on investments to shareholders, adding that the company hopes to achieve this by driving market penetration and expanding its frontiers in retail.
“New products will be developed to serve the needs of the insuring public, while more electronic distribution channels are being opened up to make its products more accessible to prospective policyholders,” Buraimo said.
Equity Assurance was incorporated on December 13, 1984 and was licensed to underwrite all classes of general business. The company operates with a recently increased authorized share capital of N7 billion and shareholders fund of about N5.1 billion. The company is a corporate member of the West African Insurance Company Association (WAICA) and the Nigeria Insurers’ Association (NIA), the official umbrella of registered insurance companies in Nigeria, as well as The Africa Insurance Organisation (AIO).
Equity Assurance Plc is the parent company of Equity Assurance Limited, a Ghanaian subsidiary that started operations in Ghana in 2008
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