adminTinashe Makichi : Business Reporter
South Africa’s Liberty Holdings has emerged as one of the leading prospective investors First Mutual Life Holdings is talking to over a potential partnership. Chief executive Douglas Hoto confirmed yesterday that FML is engaged in talks with Liberty under a possible technical partnership deal. Mr Hoto said the search for a strategic partner was a low key engagement where FML is trying to engage an investor to inject fresh capital.“It is a low key engagement and it has always been an issue that we kept on telling people. We have been looking for a strategic investor for FML.
“We have actually been engaging a lot of investors and Liberty is one of them. Liberty is actually one of the potential investors that we have been talking to,” said Mr Hoto.
Mr Hoto said the engagement with the potential investors does not involve the disposal of any shares, but rather it provides an avenue through which the company can fullfill its recapitalisation plans.
“It is not necessarily that there are shares being bought. Nobody is selling shares, but we are just looking at bringing in new capital and technology into the business,” he said.
FML has diverse interests in short term insurance; short term re-insurance; life assurance; long term re-insurance and real estate housed under its subsidiaries; First Mutual Life, Pearl Properties, First Mutual Health, Tristar Insurance Company, First Mutual Wealth Management, FMRE Property and Casualty (Zimbabwe), FMRE Life and Health and FMRE Property and Casualty (Botswana.)
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