[ad_1]
Shariah-compliant insurance companies Dar Al Takaful (DAT) and National Takaful Company, commonly known as Watania, have completed their merger to create the UAE’s largest insurance provider, after receiving approval from regulators and shareholders of both companies.
As part of the deal, Watania shares were delisted from the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on June 30.
Under the merger process, its shareholders will receive 0.734375 Dar Al Takaful shares for each Watania share held.
The merged company, Dar Al Takaful, begins trading on the Dubai Financial Market with a share capital of AED 260 million ($70.8 million) On Monday, the stock code was “DARTAKAFUL.”
“Through the merger, DAT will benefit from realizing significant cost and revenue synergies, lower operating expenses and a better IT platform to expand its product range and geographical coverage, while maintaining its market competitiveness and enhancing its service excellence” the company said.
Alpen Capital said in a February report that it expects the UAE insurance market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.1% between 2021 and 2026, accounting for 43.7% of total written premiums in the GCC region during the same period.
“The expansion of mandatory business scope, improved regulatory standards and favorable immigration policies are likely to support its growth,” the report said.
The overall size of the GCC insurance market is expected to increase from US$26.5 billion in 2021 to US$31.1 billion in 2026.
It experienced greater consolidation through mergers and acquisitions as the company was “forced to refocus on building resilience and rethink its risk management strategy,” the report said.
Ali Aldhaheri, chairman of DAT, said: “Our merger brings together two successful businesses to form a takaful giant that is able to leverage economies of scale to develop innovative takaful solutions in a way the market has never seen before.”
“DAT will focus on deepening our client coverage and activities in the UAE while pursuing opportunities to apply our expertise overseas, particularly in the fragmented GCC market.”
After the merger, Gautam Datta will continue to serve as CEO of DAT.
“The takaful/insurance industry is on a growth trajectory as the region enters a new era after the worst impacts of the pandemic,” Mr Datta said.
“We are building a strong, scalable and adaptable business model… that will be able to meet the changing needs of our customers and the overall market.”
Emirates NBD Capital acted as sole financial advisor for the transaction, Hadef and Partners acted as legal advisor to Watania, and Ibrahim and Partners acted as legal advisor to DAT.
KPMG acted as sole valuation and financial due diligence advisor, while Milliman acted as sole actuarial advisor.
Updated: July 4, 2022, 12:06 pm
[ad_2]
Source link