Old Mutual Holdings

Old Mutual Holdings Plc, Formally known as UAP Holdings Limited, is an investment, retirement, and insurance group that operates mainly in Eastern Africa. UAP Holdings is one of the leading insurance and financial services groups in eastern Africa with a network of branches and operational subsidiaries spread across the greater eastern and central Africa regions.
The group's headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mauritius. The Mauritius units are holding companies for the non-Kenyan operations. The flagship company of the group is UAP Insurance Kenya.
The Group's origins in Kenya date back to the 1920s when Provincial Insurance Company of East Africa was incorporated as a subsidiary of Provincial Insurance Company, an insurance group based in London, United Kingdom. The 1994 merger of Union des Assurances de Paris [fr] (UAP) of France and Provincial of the UK led to the formation of the UAP Insurance Company of Kenya. In 1996, the firm became part of Axa when Axa acquired UAP in France. Axa divested its shareholding in 2000 and the firm became a wholly owned Kenyan company.
UAP Holdings expanded to Uganda in 2005, to South Sudan in 2006, to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2011, and to Tanzania in 2013. All entries other than Tanzania were greenfield investments. The group entered Tanzania through the acquisition of Century Insurance Company Limited and re-branded it to UAP Century Insurance Company Limited. In total, UAP has sixteen businesses operating in the region.
On 8 January 2015, Centum and Chris Kirubi announced that they had entered into an agreement with Old Mutual for the sale of their 13.75 per cent and 9.58 per cent stake in UAP Holdings, respectively, to the London Stock Exchange-listed financial giant in a deal valued at over KSh 7 billion. Once complete, Old Mutual will hold 23.33 per cent of UAP Holdings-issued shares and will act as a strategic investor to the group. On 27 January 2015, Kenyan print media reported that Old Mutual had acquired the shares in UAP Holdings previously owned by Abraaj, Africinvest, and Swedfund, amounting to 37.33 per cent of total shareholding, for US$155.5 million (KSh 14.2 billion), thereby raising Old Mutual's ownership in UAP Holdings to 60.66 per cent.
In June 2015, shareholders of UAP Holdings agreed to merge with the parent company's other businesses in Kenya, to create a single entity that is referred to as UAP-Old Mutual Group. The combined company is expected to list its shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. In June 2015, Peter Mwangi was appointed chief executive officer of the UAP-Old Mutual Group. In April 2020, Arthur Oginga took over as CEO. Joe B. Wanjui, the former chairman of UAP Holdings, will assume the role of chairman of the new UAP Old Mutual Group.
The companies that comprise the Old Mutual Holdings include, but are not limited, to the following:
The shares of Old Mutual Holdings are traded over the counter at Dyer & Blair Investment Bank pending future listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. As of September 2018 the shareholding of Old Mutual Holdings is expected to look as depicted in the table below:
1 - These are subsidiaries of Old Mutual of South Africa. This gives Old Mutual 66.67% control of UAP Holdings.
UAP Holding opened UAP Old Mutual Tower, a 33-storey office complex in Nairobi's Upper Hill district. UAP Tower is set to becoming the tallest structure in eastern and central Africa upon its completion in 2015.