Moroccan Tycoon Moulay Elalamy's Saham Group Acquires Rwandan Insurance Firm

Saham Finances, a Pan-African insurance company founded by Moroccan business tycoon, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, has reportedlyacquired a 66% stake in Corar-AG, one of the largest insurance providers in Rwanda, for an undisclosed sum.

Saham Finances is a subsidiary of Saham Group, a Moroccan conglomerate with interests in insurance, offshoring, health services and real estate. Saham Finances has been expanding aggressively across Africa, pursuing its ambition of becoming the largest insurance group on the continent. The company now has operations in 19 African countries. Early last year, the company acquired a controlling stake in Mercantile Insurance, a Kenyan insurance firm. In November, it acquired the second largest insurer in Angola, AG Angola Seguros.

Moulay Hafid Elalamy, who is one of the wealthiest men in Africa with a fortune FORBES estimates at $500 million, founded Saham Group in 1995 after serving as the CEO of the African Insurance Company of Morocco. He grew it into one of Morocco’s largest privately-held service companies. 

In December 2013, French investment company Wendel Group acquired a 13.3% stake in Saham for a reported $137.5 million, valuing the company at a little over $1 billion. Moulay stepped down as the company’s CEO in October 2013 when King Mohammed VI appointed him as the Kingdom’s Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy.