TheCable

AXA Mansard Insurance has announced the divestment from its subsidiary, AXA Mansard Pensions, after entering into a sale and purchase agreement with Eustacia Limited.

This was disclosed in a notification sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and signed by Omowunmi Mabel Adewusi, AXA Mansard Insurance company secretary, over the weekend.

“After obtaining the shareholder’s approval at the company’s extraordinary general meeting held on February 13 2020, the company commenced the process of divestment,” the notice read.

“Upon completion of a bid process, Eustacia Limited (a member of the Verod Group) was selected as the preferred bidder.

“The company along with the minority shareholder entered into a sale and purchase agreement with Eustacia Limited to divest the entire issued ordinary share capital of AXA Mansard Pensions comprising of 60 percent shareholding (2,067,672,000 shares) held by AXA Mansard Insurance and 40 percent shareholding (1,378,448,000 shares) held by the minority shareholder.

“The divestment has received letters of no objection from the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), National Pension Commission (PENCOM), and the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

“The completion of the divestment is subject to the receipt of the final approval of PENCOM.”

Commenting on the divestment, Kunle Ahmed, CEO of AXA Mansard Insurance, said: “This transaction marks a new step in AXA’s broader strategy to focus on and grow our life, property & casualty and health businesses across all its geographies”.

On his part, Dapo Akisanya, CEO of AXA Mansard Pensions, expressed confidence about “Verod’s strong commitment to providing the company with the requisite support to actualize our promise to our clients and stakeholders”.

“As a West African investor with deep local knowledge and presence, we look forward to harnessing Verod’s unique, and world-class, attributes towards setting new standards in the industry,” Akisanya added.

Eric Idiahi, partner at Verod, expressed his company’s commitment to sustaining AXA Mansard Pensions’ standards.

“We strongly believe that this is the ideal time to enter the market and that AXA Mansard Pensions provides an excellent beachhead from which to establish a consolidated position and gain market share,” Idiahi said.

“We believe that sustaining AXA Mansard Pension’s industry-leading investment returns, excellent customer service, as well as, expanding distribution network and product offerings will facilitate the capture of the considerable growth potential within the Nigerian pensions industry, particularly following the opening of the transfer window.”