Sanlam overtakes Old Mutual — even as stock falls sharply after R5.7bn share issue
Life insurer Sanlam’s share price fell as much as 8.3% to R84.02 on Wednesday morning. That was lower than the R87 per share price it achieved on Wednesday when it raised R5.7bn by placing new shares with institutional investors. Sanlam said it had placed 65.5-million new shares at R87 each, a 5.3% discount to Tuesday’s R91.89 closing price. The addition of the new shares helped Sanlam narrowly overtake Old Mutual as the JSE’s largest life insurer. Sanlam’s market capitalisation was R198bn at 10am, just ahead of Old Mutual’s R197bn. Discovery ranked third with a market cap of R114bn. Sanlam said on Wednesday it was raising the R5.7bn via the placing to help buy the 53.37% of Africa and Middle East-focused insurer Saham Finances it does not already own. The insurance group announced on March 8 it intended to make Saham a wholly owned subsidiary in a deal valued at more than $1bn.
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