Ahead of NAICOM recapitalization, Tangerine Life completes acquisition of ARM Life

Tangerine Life Insurance Limited, previously known as Metropolitan Life Insurance Nigeria Limited, has concluded its acquisition of ARM Life PLC.

Verod Capital, one of the leading private equity firms investing in growth companies across Anglophone West Africa is the mother company of Tangerine. The Nigeria- based investment firm acquired Tangerine from a South African company, Momentum Metropolitan Holdings following its exit from Nigeria in 2019.

While Tangerine’s strength lies in the corporate market segment, its acquisition of ARM Life which has broad retail and annuity-based service offering puts Tangerine as Nigeria’s fourth-largest life insurer, as compiled from a statement by Tangerine Life.

“The key objective of the acquisition is to build a stronger, broader insurance and financial services platform, drawing on the strengths of both entities,” Tangerine said in a statement seen by Businessday on Wednesday.

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Since it was first announced in February 2020, Tangerine Life said both organizations have embarked on a rigorous exercise to evaluate their collective strengths and address any gaps, towards building an impressive new enterprise focused on digitalfirst. The new entity, according to the Lagos-based company will focus on impressing and satisfying customers with quality products and a superior customer experience.

“Integrating the businesses has presented us a tremendous opportunity to enhance our capabilities, improve operating efficiencies and grow our businesses,” Livingstone Magorimbo, Managing Director, Tangerine Life said.

According to Stephen Alangbo, former Managing Director at ARM Life and director at Tangerine Life, “innovation is paramount in ensuring customer satisfaction in today’s business landscape. We believe that the combination of both entities will ensure exceptional value creation for existing and new customers and partners.”

At Tangerine Life, Magorimbo said, the company is key on innovation and is focused on driving positive change within the insurance industry while also creating tremendous value for its customers by effectively positioning its business to stay ahead of the next wave of industry evolution.

Even though the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has suspended the recapitalisation exercise for insurers and reinsurers, following a court order issued 10 days before the deadline of the first tranche of the exercise which was to take effect on 31 December, Tangerine’s acquisition of ARM Life is setting the pace for other industry players who will need to recapitalize.

NAICOM has been working to increase capital in the sector for several years, including proposing a risk-based capital system in 2018 instead of the base capital system.

The recently suspended recapitalization exercise by NAICOM started in May 2019 and it requires life insurers to meet a minimum paid-up capital of N8bn ($ 20.2m), from NGN2BN, while general insurance companies are required to raise their minimum paid-up capital to N10bn from NGN3BN.