/ 31 March 2010

Agreement on Metropolitan, Momentum merger

An agreement has been reached to pave the way for the merger of insurers Metropolitan and Momentum — a subsidiary of FirstRand — the parties announced on Wednesday.

The proposed merger would be implemented by FirstRand selling its entire issued ordinary share capital of Momentum to Metropolitan, in consideration for which Metropolitan would issue new Metropolitan ordinary shares to FirstRand.

The parties said in a statement that following the implementation of the proposed merger, FirstRand would unbundle all its shares in Metropolitan to its ordinary shareholders.

“The proposed merger will create a leading insurance-based financial services group and will significantly expand the product offerings, target markets and growth prospects of Momentum and Metropolitan in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa,” the statement said. — Sapa