The insurance regulator has given Jubilee Allianz General Insurance and Allianz Kenya the go-ahead to combine their general insurance businesses to create an entity with annual premiums of Sh3.9 billion.

Global general insurer Allianz SE completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Jubilee General Insurance and renamed it Jubilee Allianz General Insurance.

The company is now consolidating the business to bring together the acquired business which commands a 2.3 percent market share and Allianz –which it started from scratch — which has a 0.71 percent share in the general insurance industry.

“Effective June 20, 2022, Jubilee Allianz general insurance and Allianz Kenya operations will be fully consolidated into Jubilee Allianz general insurance. All contacts issued under Allianz remain valid under the new change,” the company said in a statement to newsrooms.

The consolidation will help the unified firm to benefit from economies of scale.

The acquisition was part of transactions in five markets including Uganda, Tanzania, Mauritius and Burundi that will see Jubilee Holdings receive a total of Sh7.75 billion for the sale of majority stakes in its general insurance subsidiaries to Allianz.

It is expected that Allianz will also invest Sh3 billion in the subsidiaries. Subsequent to the deals with Jubilee, Allianz announced it has signed an agreement with South African insurance firm Sanlam to form a pan-African joint venture that includes Kenya.

The South African multinational has a subsidiary in the local market –Sanlam Kenya.

Allianz sought to establish a new operation in Kenya in 2014 but it was granted a licence towards the end of 2016 and commenced operations as Allianz Kenya in 2017.

The company says it works much faster and better when they work with a local partner who has been there for a long time and understands the market than launching operations from scratch.

During the annual general meeting on Wednesday, Jubilee announced it will invest Sh450 million per year for the next five years. The additional investments will go into digital infrastructure.