Allianz will hold a 40% stake in its new joint venture with South Africa’s Sanlam, an official at Allianz told Enterprise yesterday, confirming a report by Al Shorouk.

A blockbuster merger for the African ins. industry: The two companies agreed to merge their Africa operations in May, creating the largest pan-African non-banking financial services business on the continent. The JV will operate in 29 countries in Africa, and is expected to have an estimated value of ZAR 33 bn (c. USD 2.05 bn). South Africa is excluded from the agreement and Namibia will be included at a later date.

Allianz could up its stake: Allianz could later increase its share of the company to 49% and obtain management rights, the source told us yesterday, without disclosing further information.

The merger will see Sanlam enter Egypt for the first time. The South African insurer has been planning to enter the Egyptian market since 2019.

OTHER M&A NEWS-

Berlin-based corporate venture builder FoundersLane has launched operations in Egypt after its acquisition by Creative Dock, FoundersLane Egypt Managing Director Anas Rabah told Enterprise. The Czech firm bought FoundersLane earlier this month to create what the company said will be the largest independent corporate venture builder in the world. FoundersLane Egypt is part of its plans to expand in the MENA region.

SOUND SMART- Venture builders help build startups from scratch and position themselves as going beyond the provision of finance (an assertion, we note, that just about every venture capitalist will make). Their role usually lies in staffing a startup, testing its product, and preparing it before launching it into the market. Venture builders usually focus on a small handful of early-stage startups, rather than building large portfolios.

The firm is big on MENA: The acquisition has given Creative Dock a presence in several MENA countries including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, and it now plans to invest over EUR 100 mn in the region over the next five years. FoundersLane has MENA experience in financial services, healthcare, logistics, manufacturing and utilities, Rabah said.

The company is still studying the Egyptian market to sort out its focus and average ticket size will be, Rabah said. “The startup ecosystem is doing very well and is booming, but on the other hand, there’s a huge number of corporates and family businesses that operate very traditionally and do not have tech arms,” Rabah told us. “We want to enhance the business flow of these firms by building tech ventures and startups under their umbrella,” he explained.