Sanlam, Absa creates SA’s biggest black-owned asset manager

Assets exceed R1 trillion
Sanlam and Absa have formally combined their investment businesses a year after announcing the merger.
    - 2022-12-05 00:00:00
Londiwe Buthelezi

Sanlam and Absa have officially combined their investment businesses to form South Africa’s largest black-owned asset manager. The two companies announced in October 2021 that they were joining forces to create an asset management firm second only to Ninety One in terms of size.

The new company, to be born out of marrying Sanlam Investments and Absa Investments – which comprised Absa Asset Management, Absa Alternative Asset Management, Absa Fund Managers and Absa Multi-Management – will have assets of more than R1 trillion.

On Thursday, the two firms said they’ve now met all the conditions, allowing them to officially launch the new asset management venture, Sanlam Investment Holdings Proprietary Limited (SIH), on 1 December.

GIANTS

The two combined all their investment management businesses in South Africa.

Absa Investments got a stake in SIH. Absa also entered into a 10-year distribution agreement with SIH. This means that the new asset management firm will use both Sanlam and distribution networks, thus reaching significantly more clients than they ever could individually.

They also said that doing it as a team of two financial giants will help them bring a more holistic range of investment solutions to the market.

“Sanlam and Absa clients will gain from the enhanced investment offering. This partnership will allow us to deliver investment solutions that sustain future generations,” said Sanlam Investment Group CEO, Carl Roothman.

He believes that the scale of SIH will position the group as the preferred investment solutions provider in South Africa. – Fin24