Clientèle Limited has signed an agreement to buy micro-insurer Emerald Life (Pty) Ltd from its owner, André van der Westhuizen.
The diversified financial services group will acquire all of Emerald Life issued share capital for a base amount of R597.5 million, Clientèle said in a SENS announcement last week.
It said the acquisition will add to Clientèle’s expertise in the mass market segment and presents a number of strategic benefits. It said the recent acquisition of 1Life Insurance Limited has further extended Clientèle’s expertise in the mass market segment.
“Emerald Life is a fast-growing licensed life micro-insurer and was established on the premise of supplying affordable funeral insurance products to the lower-to-middle-income market segments via a national adviser distribution channel,” the SENS announcement said.
Emerald Life has more than 18 branches nationwide and 380 permanent employees and about 3 500 independent sales advisers. Its embedded value is about R600m, the SENS said.
According to its audited financial statements for the year to the end of February, Emerald Life had a net asset value of R96 313 468 and its profit after taxation was R50 231 359.
The sale is subject to conditions precedent, including approval from the Prudential Authority and the Competition Commission.
Clientèle’s acquisition of 1Life from Telesure Investment Holdings (TIH) became effective in July following approval from the Competition Tribunal. The transaction, which took the form of a share exchange, also resulted in TIH becoming a holder of 26% of the issued shares in Clientèle.
The R1.914-billion deal created a group with an embedded value of about R7.8bn and almost 1.5 million contracts.
1Life’s operations in the underwritten direct and intermediated life insurance market and the funeral mass market are expected to enhance Clientèle’s diversified product offering.
