The Managing Director/CEO of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Mr Oluseun Ajayi has said that the insurance operators are faced with the daunting challenge of realigning and reshaping their business in line with government mandate on recapitalization and consolidation. Mr Ajayi, who said this during the pre-AGM meeting with newsmen in Lagos said the new minimum capital base of N2 billion and N3 billion for life and non-life operators was a challenge not only to the insurance institutions but the industry at large.

According to him, “for us at Sovereign Trust, we are looking beyond the dictates of the regime knowing that this is the minimum barrier to entry. We are therefore rearranging and repositioning not only by meeting the minimum requirements but also by broadening our spread and scope of operations in order to take possession of the future.

To this end, he said: “We recently concluded a private placement of once billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at 80 kobo per share which was oversubscribed by 126 per cent. I am happy to announce that the combined shareholders’ fund of the new Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has exceeded the N3 billion capital base required for non-life insurance business.

We shall in the next couple of weeks get the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the allotment proposal of our private placement offer.”

“We have also successfully signed a merger agreement with Confidence Insurance Plc, Coral International Insurance Company Limited and Prime Trust Insurance Company Limited. With these strategic initiatives, our market share and presence in Nigeria is set to expand rapidly. On completion of our integration process, we intend to leverage the synergy that the merger will confer to transform our business and improve the fortunes of our investors,” he continued.

Commenting on the future of the company, Mr Ajayi said, “Having laid a solid foundation for future growth, we are taking guided step to ensure we deliver on our projections. Taking a close look at the Nigerian market, we see a future full of opportunities. With the push for closer economic ties of countries within the West African sub-region, the implementation of a single monetary regime in the region, the privatisation of erstwhile public companies which were hitherto performing below expectation and the entrance of international players into sectors such as telecommunication, petroleum and energy and banking, we see a Nigeria and indeed a rapidly transforming West Africa with increased volume and value of insurable assets.”

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The Tide Online is published by Rivers State Newspaper Corporation