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ZIMBABWE is among the countries the pan-African reinsurance company Continental Reinsurance is considering acquisitions in as it eyes a larger share of the African reinsurance market through regional expansion, establishing new regional subsidiaries and acquisitions.
The company already has a presence in Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire and writes business across 43 African countries.
Additional offices will be opened in Tunisia in April and Botswana in May this year, the group managing director and chief executive officer Dr Olufemi Oyetunji has said.
“We believe that Africa must have strong and large insurance institutions so that we can keep African premiums in Africa,” he said.
“We see opportunities in organic growth and we see opportunities in acquisitions. As I speak, we have entered into discussions with reinsurance companies in West Africa, East Africa and in Southern Africa.”
As part of acquisition and regional expansion, the company plans to raise additional capital, a process which has already been approved by the Board of Directors and is ongoing.
The company has entered into special co-operative agreement with SCR Morocco and SCG Re Gabon among other reinsurance companies.
The company is also developing engineering services capability to meet the rising demand for the services across Africa and also actuarial analytics services to meet the prevailing shortage in the continent.
As part of Continental Re’s efforts to upscale African insurance skills, the company will run a series of training sessions in different regions across Africa. The training will provide local market needs and fill knowledge gaps.
Continental Re is one of Africa’s largest private reinsurance companies and its expansion will see its growth accelerate as a result of the growing economies and resource discoveries in former non-natural resource rich countries like Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
As part of the pan-African focus, Continental Re has started an annual CEO’s Summit, graced by leaders in the insurance industry and allied businesses in Africa, to chart new growth paths for the insurance industry.
The first summit was held in the coastal city of Mombasa in Kenya in March this year under the theme; “Sustainable Industry Development and Leadership.”
Continental Re’s expansion strategy will be driven by opening regional subsidiaries rather than branches. This is meant to enable the local offices to apply local knowledge, attract local talent and provide better opportunity for the head of the subsidiary to deepen the market.
The Tunisia office to be opened in April will take care of the North Africa Business while the Botswana office to be opened in May will handle Southern African, excluding South Africa, business.
The local subsidiaries will also deliver local insurance offerings relevant to their markets, for example the Tunisia office will also see the launch of Continental Re’s Takaful insurance offering.
Most of the company’s business is derived from Nigeria, which accounts for 66 percent of total business, followed by Central Africa at 8 percent and Southern Africa at 6 percent.
Online Reporter