ARM investment drives restructuring in ChristaLife Assurance

The new owners of ChristaLife Assurance Company Limited, Asset and Resources Management Limited (ARM) with Leapfrog Africa who are presently controlling 52 percent equity stake in the company has commenced restructuring of the organization.

The process which has seen the former Managing Director/CEO of the Company, Seyi Ifaturoti take early retirement, has brought in another game changer, Owolabi Salami.

Formerly with GT Assure plc now Mansard and Aiico Insurance plc, Owolabi according to industry sources is going to drive the new and big Crystalife with Teju Ogunjimi, executive director in the old CrystaLife.

End of second quarter might be the birth of new rebranded ChristaLife with a new head off to be sited in Obakaran Ikeja area of Lagos, a source at ARM told BusinessDay.

According to the source, plan is underway to up the equity stake of the new investors to 62 percent, from share purchase of other shareholders.

Sky Bank plc was the major investor in Chrystalife, so divested in response to the CBN directive which brought an end to universal banking license for money deposit banks except on Holdco structure.

Further to ARM’s recent acquisition of a majority stake in CrystaLife Assurance Plc, the partnership’s ambitious aim is to make CrystaLife, currently the sixth largest life insurer in Nigeria, the industry leader in Africa’s most populous nation.

LeapFrog founder, Andrew Kuper, had said: “Africa’s time has come. It is the place for investors to find top-tier returns, and make an enormous difference too. The accelerated growth and increased stability over the past ten years is nothing short of phenomenal. The world is just beginning to understand that Africa is home to hundreds of millions of consumers, workers and entrepreneurs. They are actively acquiring products and services, lifting families and nations out of poverty.”

LeapFrog’s support, drawing on its extensive team of insurance experts and actuaries, is expected to help CrystaLife to cover millions of Nigerians, tapping the vast opportunity of Africa’s emerging consumers.

ARM is the largest non-bank financial services provider in Nigeria, and has emerged as one of the leading long-term investors in Nigeria, managing assets of $2.5 billion. The ARM Group supplies financial and investment products through Asset Management, which includes pension and non-pension retail, wealth and institutional asset management, and Specialized Funds, which includes private equity, hospitality and retail, infrastructure finance and real estate. Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria since it was established in 1994, ARM has offices and retail centers across Nigeria.

LeapFrog invests in high-growth financial services companies in Africa and Asia that serve the next billion emerging consumers. The fund pursues profit-with-purpose, targeting top-tier returns from its portfolio companies while reaching 8 million people, most of whom are low-income, with essential financial tools. Launched in 2008 with President Bill Clinton, LeapFrog recently won the Investor of the Year award from Business Insider and the Sustainable Investor of the Year special commendation award from the Financial Times and IFC. Investors in LeapFrog’s high impact investment fund include global banks such as JP Morgan, the European Investment Bank and Triodos; leading funds such as Soros EDF, Omidyar Network, and Calvert; global reinsurers and pension funds such as SCOR, Haverford, and TIAA-CREF; and leading development financiers including FMO, IFC, KfW, Proparco and Accion Frontier Invest

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