Why did Sanlam sell its life unit in Togo to NSIA?
Monday, 27 September 2021 13:59 
(Togo First) - “This is a bipartite agreement between our group Sanlam and the NSIA group,” commented Simon Pierre Gouem, MD Sanlam Togo, after the group sold some of its insurance units to the Ivorian NSIA.
“Sanlam sold its life insurance units in Togo and Gabon, its non-life units in Congo and Guinea to the NSIA group. At the same time it acquired NSIA’s life and non-life units in Mali,” the executive declared.
Gouem, who has headed Sanlam Togo since 2018, explained that the move is “part of a financial strategy, and each group has made a good deal that lines up with its development and profitability goals.”
Leveraging Saham’s strengths
Sanlam, let’s recall, became Africa’s largest insurer after acquiring the Moroccan Saham Assurances for $1.1 billion. In Togo, Sanlam plans to build on Saham’s strengths as the latter was the local market leader in non-life insurance, with FCFA 13 billion in 2020, compared with only FCFA 1 billion for life insurance.
"Selling the Sanlam life unit was strategic. It is a new subsidiary and in the group's strategy, everything we develop must be profitable. Given the results of the life subsidiary, which are not yet visible, the smart move was to sell and focus on the non-life segment. Especially in Togo where we have been recording great results for a long time, we have been very strong for a long time," said Simon Pierre Gouem, the leader in this segment.
"We want to reassure our partners and clients that this operation will not affect the quality of our services. Better still, it will strengthen our financial base and our ability to cover the risks feared by our policyholders and prospects,” he added.
Last May, Saham Assurances officially became Sanlam, the South African insurer. Acquiring Saham enabled Sanlam to expand its presence significantly - it is physically active in 32 African countries, and 44 via joint ventures and partnerships.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
