ZIMRE Holdings (Zimre) says it will invest US$5 million in Malawi and Zambia as part of a wider strategy to expand market share and strengthen the firm’s competitiveness.
The ZSE-listed group, with business operations in the pensions, property, wealth management, short-term insurance and insurance broking sectors, wants to grow its flagship business, the reinsurance and reassurance operations across the African continent as a hedging strategy against risks.
The group has been making headway in regional markets such as Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia through its regional reinsurance cluster, Emeritus International Reinsurance targeting big accounts.
ZHL group chief executive officer, Stanley Kudenga
The group’s chief executive, Stanley Kudenga, told The Financial Gazette that capital is required to make the business competitive and attain significant market share.
This comes after Zimre commissioned an independent actuary, Alexander Forbes of South Africa, to do an evaluation of all of its regional investments.
“They looked at the depth of the markets and competitive capital level and they came up with a figure that said we needed to put US$12 million into the region to make us very competitive in that business space.
“So far, we have brought US$7 million into the region, and what remains is US$5 million, which we need to look for and address.
This is predominantly going to Malawi and Zambia because the US$7 million that we are talking about has already gone into Mozambique and Botswana,” Kudenga said.
The group’s strategy involves increasing the contribution from its regional investments by upscaling its balance sheet and effectively deploying competitive capital across all strategic business units.
The group’s regional expansion began in 1996 with the acquisition of United General Insurance in Malawi and the formation of Zimre Malawi.
Zimre Zambia was established in 1999, while Zimre Mozambique was established in 2003, in addition to the equity investments in Eswatini, Kenya, and Uganda. newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw