Standard Alliance Insurance, Life Assurance get shareholders’ nod to merge


The boards of Standard Alliance Insurance Plc, and Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited, have received the approval of their shareholders to go ahead with their merger plan.

This was the major fallout of the separate court-ordered meetings, which the two companies convened recently in Lagos, where their respective shareholders voted in favour of the merger plan.

At the separate meetings, the Chief Executive Officer, SA Insurance Plc, Bode Akinboye, and Managing Director, SA Life Assurance Limited, Bolaji Oladipo, respectively explained the strategic derivable values from the merger to the shareholders. They noted that the joint strength from the process would ensure a much stronger performance and returns to the companies’ owners.

According to Akinboye, the merger plan was a deliberate and strategic decision by the boards of both companies to form a frontline composite insurance company, which will play a leading business role in the nation’s insurance sector with an ultimate goal of making the company a most preferred place to invest in. 
  Speaking further, he told the owners of the company that the corporate action was being taken with a focus on delivering superior returns to them, providing much higher level of satisfactory service to the company’s clients and to save cost of operations.

On his part, Oladipo assured SA Life’s shareholders that the composite company to emerge will continue to build on the success of the transaction in the months to come, providing more innovative products and delivering on its promises to clients, adding that with the combined professional and result-oriented workforce of the two companies involved, the composite company was sure of achieving its set merger goals.

While lending his voice to the need for the merger, President, Renaissance Shareholders’ Association, Amb. Timothy Olufemi, told his fellow shareholders that the move by the board was commendable and timely. He noted that going by the prevailing difficult conditions under which the nation’s insurance companies have continued to operate, the best alternative to ensuring shareholders received better value for their investments is the merger option.