Metropolitan snatches Momentum

Metropolitan Life Namibia recently acquired FNB Namibia’s 51% shareholding in Momentum Life Assurance Namibia ending months of negotiations.
The deal worth more than N$370 million will be financed through Metropolitan International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MMI Holdings.
MMI, born from the merger of Momentum Group and Metropolitan Holdings, held 49% of Momentum Namibia through the Momentum Group and holds 77% of Metropolitan Life Namibia . As part of the deal, N$28.6 million will remain outstanding and will be settled out of “certain specifically determined proceeds of the banc-assurance business conducted by Momentum Life Namibia.”
The deal will result in the consolidation of Momentum Life Namibia’s asset management and property companies into Metropolitan Life Namibia. Once the transaction is concluded, Metropolitan Life Namibia (including Momentum Life Namibia) will have an embedded value of approximately N$1.3 billion.  MMI Group CEO Nicolaas Kruger said of the deal: ‘This is a merger of Metropolitan Life Namibia and Momentum Life Namibia under the Metropolitan International umbrella. It is an important milestone in the integration process of MMI’s Namibian operations. Momentum Life Namibia and Metropolitan Life Namibia both have an equally strong presence and together they have the potential to be a financial services leader in Namibia.’ Mervyn Cookson, CEO of Metropolitan International, the MMI division into which Metropolitan Life Namibia reports added: ‘We are very excited about the growth opportunities in Namibia and this transaction creates the perfect platform for us to grow our presence even further.  “We are particularly pleased that we will now be a consolidated business that offers multiple financial products including life insurance, health insurance administration and asset management to the Namibian public. Metropolitan will continue to make use of the well-known Momentum, Swabou and Metropolitan brands. “We, therefore, want to assure our current and future clients that the new Metropolitan Life Namibia operations will continue to provide uninterrupted service to all our clients. Clients can also look forward to new and innovative products and services as a result of this merger,” Cookson said. The acquisition of 51% shareholding in Momentum Life Namibia has been approved by the Namibian authorities and will be effective from 1 July 2012.  The insurance giant MMI recently announced the dissolution of the joint venture in Momentum Short-term Insurance after its wholly-owned subsdiary, Momentum Group entered into a binding sale of shares agreement with OUTsurance that will see the former acquire OUTsurance’s 50% shareholding in the short term insurance company.