South African insurance giant, Hollard, has acquired 51% stake of local firm MET Insurance Ghana.
The move will see the re-branding of MET insurance to Hollard insurance.
It comes barely a month after investment firm,Leapfrog Investments, acquired 80 percent stake in local insurance company, UT Life Insurance.
[contextly_sidebar id=”EhpxQu3agg7nEDXOOBlVXT7tzCK8pFYR”]Ghana’s insurance penetration is said to be below 2%. Also, projections from the National Insurance Commission (NIC) suggests total premiums could go up to 1.5 billion dollars by 2020.
Chief Executive Officer of MET Insurance Ghana Limited, Lynda Oduro tells Citi Business News she is optimistic the coming on board of Hollard will boost the company’s operations,
“With Hollard, we will blend our local expertise with the global capabilities offered to us to create a global brand with a local focus. The partnership will yield fruitful results and push the market further ahead than it is now. We take immense comfort and pride in sharing in this bigger pie, and we aim to share even more value with all our stakeholders,” she stated.
For his part, the Executive Director and International Chief Executive Officer of Hollard, Brooks Mparuta noted the coming into Ghana is part of the company’s strategy to penetrate the West African markets.
“Hollard is a large corporation with a global reach. Based in South Africa, the insurance group has a global strategy and we hope to use Ghana as the place which will help us penetrate the west African market and grow the insurance pie because we want to be the favorite insurance company that everybody will turn to if they need the service.”
Ghana is its first stop on its West Africa road map, after three years of discussions with MET Insurance, Executive Director and International Chief Executive Officer of Hollard Brooks Mparuta indicated.
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By: Norvan Acquah – Hayford/citifmonline.com/Ghana