The combined insurance company will allow Constantia to unlock growth opportunities across South Africa, Namibia and other international markets
Image: Trustco to acquire South African insurance business from Conduit Ventures. Photo: Courtesy of Capri23auto/Pixabay.
Namibia-based financial services provider Trustco Group, through its subsidiary Legal Shield Holdings (LSH), has agreed to acquire Constantia Risk and Insurance from Conduit Ventures ZAR2bn ($136m).
Constantia Risk and Insurance is a South African insurance company operating across three insurance licences.
It offers insurance and risk management solutions that cover areas such as medical malpractice, primary health insurance and medical gap cover products, funeral and life insurance, guarantee and indemnity solutions, medical evacuation insurance, property and casualty, heavy commercial vehicle, small business and other niche lines.
The company’s insurance products are distributed through underwriting management agencies, administrator managed broker distribution, and certain direct broker relationships.
Conduit Capital claims to have invested significantly in Constantia to expand its capacity, skills and infrastructure to improve the underwriting, distribution and innovation capability, in order to build its competitive advantage.
Through its subsidiaries, Conduit Ventures provides insurance adjacent services to Constantia, as well as other insurers. The services include software solutions, risk management solutions and claims related services.
LSH has assets worth $396.4m
The acquisition is expected to enable Trustco to achieve its goal to expand its insurance business regionally.
LSH is a financial services provider in Namibia, with a client-base of more than 280,000 members including individuals and small businesses. At present, the company has both short and long-term insurance licences.
After completing the restructuring of its LSH operations announced this October, the company is expected to also hold a commercial banking licence in the country and will be able to provide full spectrum of services across the financial services value chain.
At the end of its last reporting period, LSH had assets of NAD5.8bn ($396.4m), capital and reserves of NAD2.1bn ($143.5m), revenues of NAD1.5bn ($102.5m) and generated a net profit after tax of NAD900m ($61.5m).
The acquisition is expected to lead to significant synergies as Constantia services traditional insurance markets in South Africa while LSH services the micro insurance market in Namibia.