Saham Finances buys 40 percent of Nigerian insurer Unitrust

Moroccan insurance company Saham Finances has bought 40 percent stake Nigeria’s Unistrust Insurance Co for an undisclosed sum, the Moroccan company said in statement on Wednesday.

The move is the latest expansion by Saham Finances in Africa and following its acquisition of Rwanda’s Corar-AG earlier this year, and the second-largest insurer in Angola, AG Angola Seguros SA in 2013. The group has subsidiaries in 22 African countries through its two subsidiaries Colina and Mercantile.

Saham Finances is owned by Groupe Saham, founded in 1995 by Moroccan tycoon — and current trade and industry minister — Moulay Hafid Elalamy. The group also controls CNIA Saada, one of Morocco’s biggest insurers.

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Lagos-based Unitrust was created in 1981 and operates in general and non-life insurances.

Saham Finances said Unitrust is one of the major insurer in Nigeria with 3.3 billion Nigerian naira of written premiums in 2013. It added the insurance sector in Nigeria would represent 3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2017.