CIH Insurance Holdings to list its shares on April 21

By James Anyanzwa and Reuters

CFC Insurance Holdings (CfCIH), a unit of CFC Stanbic Holdings will list its shares on the Nairobi Stock Exchange on April 21 after getting all the required approvals, the two have said.

The listing is the culmination of a spin-off of CFC Insurance’s two insurance businesses, Heritage and CFC Life.

South Africa’s Liberty Holdings, majority-owned by Africa’s biggest bank by assets, Standard Bank, will have a controlling stake in the spin-off. CFC Stanbic said last year that when the firm is listed, Liberty will have a 56 per cent stake, the public will have a 20 per cent stake and a third existing shareholder, Africa Liaison Consultants, will hold the rest.

Shareholders will get one share in the spinoff for each CFC Stanbic Holdings share held.

"Existing shareholders in CFC Stanbic Holdings, will as a result of the restructuring and demerger become shareholders in CFCIH, while continuing to hold their shares in CFC Stanbic," the statement said.

The restructuring and separation of the insurance business of CfC Stanbic Holdings Ltd (CSH) from the banking section will be fully completed next month.

The plan is mainly designed to give the business a more pointed strategy and create value to the shareholders.

In a public statement yesterday, the bank disclosed the only remaining steps include distribution of CSH’s shares in CfCIH to its shareholders, acquisition by Liberty Holdings of the right to receive all shares renounced by Stanbic Africa Holdings Ltd (SAHL) and listing of the insurance company.

SAHL as the majority shareholder in CSH has agreed to renounce its entitlement to the 164,210,526 shares in CfCIH, which it is entitled to receive to Liberty Holdings of South Africa.

This together with the shares already owned by Liberty gives Liberty a controlling stake in CfCIH of 56.82 per cent from 24.95 per cent previously.

"SAHL has agreed to renounce in favour of Liberty its right to receive the shares in CfCIH to which it would be entitled as a CSH shareholder and, as a consequence, Liberty will become the controlling shareholder and a core strategic investor in CfCIH," said the bank.

CfC Stanbic Holdings, a member of the Standard Bank Group (SBG) of South Africa said existing shareholders in the bank would become shareholders of the insurance company while continuing to hold shares in the bank.