GHL acquires Dutch insurance company

Guardian Holdings Ltd (GHL) yesterday announced its second acquisition within the last month, this one being the 100 per cent shareholding of the Dutch Caribbean insurance company, Royal and Sun Alliance (Antilles) NV through its subsidiary Fatum Holding NV.

In a statement issued yesterday, GHL said upon completion of this acquisition, which is still subject to regulatory approval, the combined operations of Fatum General and Royal and Sun Alliance (Antilles) will create the largest general insurance company in the Dutch Caribbean.

“Concurrent with its acquisition of Royal and Sun Alliance (Antilles), Fatum has entered into a long-term distribution arrangement with the Maduro and Curiel banking group to distribute Fatum’s products through the bank’s branches and their insurance broker, Maduro and Curiel Insurance Services.”

The T&T-headquartered GHL said this latest acquisition comes on the heels of GHL’s recently-announced acquisition of Globe Insurance Company of Jamaica (Globe), which became part of the GHL group this past month. The insurance group said it intends to merge the operations of its existing Jamaican general insurance company, West Indies Alliance, with that of Globe.

“The combined entity will be the largest general insurance company in Jamaica,” read the GHL statement. The two acquisitions will add approximately US$55 million in annual new revenue for the GHL group and both purchases are expected to be accretive to the group’s earnings.

“These moves, when combined with the GHL subsidiary, Guardian General Insurance Company, will bolster its position as operating the largest indigenous general insurance franchise in the Caribbean, serving 21 markets across the Caribbean region. GHL already owns and operates the largest life operation in the region, through its subsidiaries Guardian Life of the Caribbean, Guardian Life Ltd, and Fatum Life and Health.    

Reducing drag on earnings In the statement, Mack said GHL’s recent strategy over the last four years indicate “that our strategic objective has been to focus on our core businesses, in our home markets of the English and Dutch Caribbean, and divest ourselves of those investments which created a drag on our earnings and return to our shareholders.

“We have successfully achieved this and are now aggressively seeking out the growth opportunities, both organically and inorganically, which exist within our markets, and which fit our business model. “The idea is to deliver consistent and steadily growing income while building value for shareholders. These two acquisitions fit very well into our strategy.”