- Deal is worth P61 million
- FMRE and Aleyo Capital Forge Strategic Partnership, Set Eyes in the Region
- The balance sheet restructuring has resulted in the creation of First Mutual Reinsurance holdings Group based in Botswana
- The Reinsurance Group set to dominate Sub Saharan Africa
FMRe is one of the most prominent reinsurance companies in Southern Africa and currently underwrites reinsurance business in 15 African countries. Aleyo Capital Proprietary Limited is a Botswana-based investment and asset management firm specializing in private equity and mezzanine investments in southern Africa.
“In order to enhance our underwriting capacity, expand the business further into the region, we have partnered with Aleyo Capital Botswana. This partnership will result in one of the strongest and most competitive reinsurance businesses in Africa and will help the business expand its market presence to East and West Africa,” said First Mutual Reinsurance Holding Company Managing Director & CEO Bongai Muhau.
First Mutual Holdings struck the deal as part of its balance sheet restructuring and capital raising exercise under which the financial services company has established a new subsidiary, First Mutual Reinsurance Holdings Limited (FMRHL), which will be domiciled in Botswana, to house its current two re-insurance businesses. “Botswana is one of the best performing and most consistent economies in Africa with a robust financial services regulatory framework. Geographically, it is at the centre of SADC which gives it central access to 400 million SADC population as a market bloc,” said Muhau.
During the signing ceremony of the partnership, he stated that they code named the transaction Project Okavango after the Okavango Delta to draw a parallel between the importance of the transaction to the reinsurance industry in Botswana and the Okavango Delta’s fascinating dominance in tourism. The partnership will now assist the diversification of the economy by bringing in significant export earnings through the regional expansion drive of the reinsurance group.
“When you look at the reinsurance industry globally and even here in Africa all the top 50 reinsurance companies come from Europe, Asia and the Americas except for Africa Re which sits on number 45 and is a multi-African governments initiative,” Mohau said. “So this partnership is the consummation of a huge African ambition, to scaling our business in order to create an Okavango delta of the reinsurance industry, a fascinating reinsurance company that is coming from Inland Africa and truly Pan African in nature, and there is no better place to scale such a reinsurance business than Botswana and in partnership with Batswana.”
Internally at First Mutual, Muhau said they code named the project that led to this partnership that we are celebrating today Project Okavango, a project to boost the security profile of FMRe to be one of the most prominent and truly pan African reinsurance company that will dominate Sub Saharan Africa as much as the Okavango Delta dominates the tourism sector in Africa. “We managed to achieve this by restructuring our Balance Sheet, bringing in our new equity partners Aleyo Capital, and relocating our reinsurance business Head Office to Botswana as First Mutual Reinsurance Holdings. Just by concluding these Project Okavango pillars, and the resultant balance sheet restructuring, we have already created a reinsurance group that will be ranked number 25th in Sub Saharan Africa by balance sheet size,” he said.
Apart from the re-insurance companies, First Mutual Holdings Group has vast interests in Life Assurance, General Insurance, Wealth Management, Real Estate, Health Insurance and Financial Inclusion. FMHL subsidiaries include First Mutual Life, First Mutual Properties, First Mutual Health, Nicoz Diamond Insurance Company, First Mutual Wealth Management, Diamond Seguros in Mozambique and UGI in Malawi.
