Sanlam and Santam have announced that they will increase their stake in Morocco-based Saham Finances by a further 16.6% to 46.6% for $329m plus transaction costs.

The transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017.

Sanlam, a South African financial services group, and its short-term insurance subsidiary, Santam, first acquired a 30% stake in Saham Finances in February 2016.

Ian Kirk, Sanlam Group’s CEO, said the partnership with the Saham Group has developed and strengthened within a short period of time.

“We have always held the view that there are strong synergies between the Sanlam and SAHAM Groups. Besides offering further minority protection, increasing our shareholding in Saham to 46.6% shows our commitment towards cementing a stronger strategic partnership in which we can collectively unlock additional synergies to mutual benefit,” he said.

Saham Finances is an insurance group with operations in 26 countries across North, West and East Africa as well as in the Middle East. 

It writes mainly non-life business (exceeding 80% of its portfolio) through its 61 subsidiaries and has a network of 700 branches with a staff complement of more than 3,000 people.

Saham Finances is one of the largest insurers in Africa, and the market leader in most of the countries in which it operates, showing good structural growth.

Raymond Farhat, CEO of Saham Finances, said: “We are pleased to strengthen the strategic partnership between our two institutions to pool our skills and network across Africa.”