Allianz completes buy-out of general insurance stakes from Jubilee

The world’s largest general underwriter Allianz has completed the purchase of general insurance stakes in Jubilee Holdings across East Africa.

On Wednesday, the insurer announced the purchase of a 66 per cent stake in Jubilee Insurance Mauritius Limited, making the deal the fifth in a run of acquisitions for Allianz.

The transaction marked the conclusion of an agreement valued at Ksh.12.1 billion ($100 million) for Allianz to become the majority stakeholder in Jubilee’s general insurance businesses in five East African countries including Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and Mauritius.

Allianz completed the first acquisition in Kenya in May last year before closing deals for stakes in Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania respectively in subsequent months.

“We are pleased to have completed the final transaction in our agreement with Jubilee, thereby cementing Allianz’s presence in East Africa. We remain confident that the global strength of Allianz combined with Jubilee’s strong brand and deep local expertise will enable us to provide best-in class insurance solutions to customers in East Africa and beyond,” noted Allianz Africa Regional CEO Delphine Traore.

Jubilee announced the sale of its stake in general business across the region in September 2020 as it saw the window of opportunity to grow by regional scale through the transaction.

The Nairobi-based regional insurer nevertheless retained control of its life and medical businesses in the transaction.

In March this year, Jubilee Holdings Limited (JHL) announced the payment of a special Ksh.5 dividend to shareholders after the receipt of Ksh.3.2 billion from the stakes sale to Allianz.

At the end of August, the underwriter retained its interim dividend at Ksh.1 per share despite a 24.4 per cent slide in profitability for the half year period to Ksh.3.4 billion.

The profit slide was against an income slump occasioned primarily by a fall in gross-written premiums following the sale of its general insurance business units.