Sanlam-Allianz Venture Set For Completion In 6 Months ^Featured

International private medical insurance and global healthcare analyst, and report author, Ian Youngman, takes a look at the joint venture between Allianz SE and Sanlam, and what it means for the international health insurance market in Africa.

The joint venture between Allianz SE and Sanlam LTD is set to be completed by June 2023, launching a partnership that will last for at least a decade.

Regulatory approvals for the proposed joint venture are progressing according to plan and are expected to be complete by mid-2023.

The joint venture will bring together the multinationals’ interests in their local subsidiaries across various markets.

Sanlam will own a 60% stake, while Allianz will hold a 40 per cent interest with an option to buy an additional nine per cent ownership in the future.

The agreement is subject to certain conditions precedent that Sanlam and/or the Allianz Group would be required to fulfil for each jurisdiction.

The completion of the transaction is expected for the first half-year of 2023.

Allianz will contribute its ownership in its African subsidiaries, including majority stakes in Jubilee general insurance businesses in Kenya, Uganda, and Burundi that it recently acquired in cash transactions.

Sanlam will contribute its interests in Sanlam Kenya (57.1%) and other operations. The multinational’s operations in South Africa, India, the Middle East, and Malaysia are excluded from the deal.

It is still not clear whether the joint venture will move beyond asset transfers to take full ownership or merge the businesses in which the parties have controlling stakes in the various markets.

Keep calm and carry on

The war in Ukraine, high food and energy prices, the fight against inflation, the looming recession, the transition to renewable energy, and China’s uncertain post-pandemic path present just some of the entangling challenges that will preoccupy the global economy in the following years, according to Allianz Research’s recently published Economic Outlook 2023-2024 report. 

Tucked away in a small corner of the report is a prediction that global growth will be 1.9 % in 2023 and 3.1% in 2024

The 2023 figure for Africa is 3.1% and for 2024 it is 3.5%. This alone explains why Allianz and others are keen to promote IPMI in Africa.

To read Ian Youngman's reports on iPMI and international health insurance, click here.