By Simon Clark
Axa SA has agreed to buy a majority stake in Nigeria's Mansard
Insurance PLC for EUR198 million ($246 million) to enter the
country's rapidly growing market.
Axa is buying 77% of Mansard, which is listed on the Nigerian
stock exchange, from investors including Development Partners
International LLP, an Africa focused private-equity firm.
The Paris-based company is among a number of global insurers
building operations in Africa. In October, Zurich-based Swiss Re
bought a minority stake in Kenya's Apollo Investments Ltd.
Prudential PLC, based in London, bought Ghana's Express Life in
December last year.
"This acquisition is a unique opportunity for Axa to enter the
largest African economy with leading positions in all business
lines and to get exposure to the fast-growing Nigerian retail
insurance market," Denis Duverne, Axa's deputy chief executive
officer, said in a statement.
Nigeria's insurance market is small but growing fast, according
to Axa. The premium to gross domestic product, or GDP, ratio is
0.4% and grew at an average 18% per year in the past three years.
By contrast, the premium to GDP ratio in Brazil is 4%. Mansard's
net income tripled to EUR9.9 million in 2013 from EUR3.2 million in
2010, Axa said.
Swiss Re and Prudential bought their recent African assets from
LeapFrog Investments, a private-equity firm that specializes in
acquiring stakes in finance companies in developing countries,
which it seeks to help expand before selling to global companies.
Axa is an investor in LeapFrog, which raised a $400 million fund
earlier this year.
Write to Simon Clark at simon.clark@wsj.com
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