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Kenyan insurance firm eyes bourse

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 9 – CfC Insurance Holdings (CIH) expects to be listed at the Nairobi Stock Exchange by October as part of plans to separate its current shareholding from CfC Stanbic Holdings (CSH).

CfC Insurance Holdings Managing Director Mike Du Toit told journalists on Wednesday that the company had already sent a circular to the capital markets authority seeking authorisation for the de-merger.

“We are now working on an Information Memorandum seeking listing and should submit it in the next two weeks,” Mr Du Toit said.

He was however quick to point out that the listing of CIH was not being done to raise funds but to separate the banking and insurance businesses.

“This will give shareholders the flexibility of either investing in the banking or insurance arm of the business,” he said.

For every stock held in CSH, shareholders will receive one bonus share in CIH.

CFC Insurance Holdings is currently owned 53.11 percent by CFC Stanbic Holdings, 24.95 percent by Liberty Holdings Limited (South Africa) and 21.94 percent by African Liaison and Consultants.

This is set to change once the CIH is listed.  Liberty Holdings stands to be the majority shareholder in the company with close to 56 percent ownership. The remaining 44 percent will be split between African Liaison and Consultants and the public.

CfC Insurance currently has two units under it i.e. CfC Life and Heritage insurance which have also been undergoing re-alignment.

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As of June 1, CFC placed its Kenyan life-insurance businesses under CFC Life Assurance and housed its general insurance operations in the East African country in Heritage Insurance following a reorganisation of the two companies.

This strategic re-arrangement will bring dedicated attention to the respective product lines.

With this separation under CIH, the splitting of the long-term (namely Life and Pensions) and short-term or general insurance product lines will be undertaken to facilitate focused management, technical specialisation, enhanced customer service and early compliance with proposed regulatory requirements.

“We are totally committed to understanding the needs of our clients and providing excellent service, solutions and value,” CfC Life Managing Director Abel Munda said adding it would enhance the range of services offered enabling it to focus on client specific needs.

Under the re-alignment, all new and renewed Short-term business will now be underwritten by The Heritage Insurance.  The longer-term strategy will see the consolidation of the Long-term business under CfC Life Assurance.

“Heritage has a trusted reputation for settling claims promptly and efficiently and we intend to continue to develop this reputation through all of our short term lines of business including all new business that we take on from CfC Life,” Heritage Insurance Managing Director John Milne said.

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