Britam Holdings, a diversified financial services firm listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, has announced the completion of a subscription for a 14.3 percent equity stake by Africinvest III SPV-1.
The subscription was finalised, subject to the fulfilment of the required conditions, on May 18, 2018, giving Africinvest 360,883,281 ordinary shares in Britam Holdings PLC.
Africinvest, an investment and financial services firm based in Tunisia, was founded in 1994. The private equity firm has nine offices in cities such as Nairobi, Lagos, Abidjan, and Casablanca.
Since its inception, the firm has invested in 140 companies across 25 African nations in various high-growth sectors and comprises of high-quality executives offering expertise in agribusiness, financial services, healthcare, education, and consumer/retail.
The Subscription
Britam’s shareholders approved Africinvest’s equity stake subscription in November last year, a decision that has now resulted in a Sh5.7 billion investment. Africinvest has used the investment in Britam to purchase the aforementioned ordinary shares.
Benson Wairegi, the managing director Britam Group said during a shareholders’ general meeting last year that the investment would fund strategic projects such as consolidating the group’s leadership position in asset management, insurance, and property in accordance with its 2016-2020 strategy.
“We take this opportunity to welcome Africinvest as a shareholder and look forward to working closely with it to exploit the many opportunities in the region. We thank our shareholders for their support throughout this process and recognise the invaluable guidance from our regulators- the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), and the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Finally, we wish to thank our transaction advisers Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited and our legal advisers Coulson Harney LLP for all their hard work in bringing this transaction to its completion,” Britam said in a notice today.
Africinvest’s decision to invest in Britam came after the International Finance Corporation (IFC) funded the firm’s strategic projects with Sh3.6 billion.
