Company news in brief

Old Mutual Insure eyes more acquisitionsThis is likely to be a busy year for Old Mutual&#039;s short-term insurance division, Old Mutual Insure. After buying 51% of underwriting management agency ONE Financial Services Holdings in January, Old Mutual Insure said it continues to investigate acquisition options and opportunities for inorganic business growth.The insurer, which owns iWYZE, Mutual & Federal Risk Financing (MFRF) and Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation (CGIC), published its integrated annual report on Thursday. In that report, the company said it has developed an acquisition strategy. It also has "comprehensive partnership plans" to help it drive growth in 2022 and beyond."OM Insure will continue investigating acquisition options and opportunities for inorganic business growth. Our current 9% market share gives us a lot of scope for upward movement, particularly in the direct channel," said the insurer&#039;s MD Garth Napier.iWYZE is OM Insurer&#039;s direct short-term insurer, selling gap cover, home, car and other short-term insurance products to retail consumers. It also launched direct commercial insurance for small businesses in 2020. It is the smallest business in the OM Insure stable, with R1.14 billion of gross written premiums collected in 2021.In 2021, OM Insure&#039;s underwriting margin rose to 4.9%, bouncing backing from a loss of 2.6% in 2020. That margin, which gauges the profitability of the business that insurers underwrite, was just 0.4% in 2019. The company&#039;s profit after tax of R729 million was also more than double what it reported in 2019 and even bigger than the R705 million recorded in 2018. – Fin24Transnet to sell rail slots to third partiesTransnet will sell slots on its rail network to third parties in a first step to liberalise rail in South Africa, the state-owned logistics giant announced on Friday.In the first phase of a slot sales programme, Transnet said 16 slots be up for grabs. Six of these will be for containers and general goods moving between City Deep and Durban. Ten other slots are available between Springfontein in the Free State and East London.The slot sales allow access to the rail network is the first step toward liberalising the rail sector and the aim is to densify railing routes and move traffic off-road and onto rail."This increases the players in the industry, it increases the dynamism of the sector," said Transnet CEO Portia Derby. "The competition is coming for us, but we are ready for that."Transnet hopes the sales process will attract parties with experience in rail logistics. First prize would be for third parties to own their own rolling stock given that Transnet already faces limitations in this regard. – Fin24JSE private placing platform attracts billionsIn just three months after the JSE received a licence to open a platform for private market capital raising, it has attracted more than R5 billion in potential investments.The online platform allows private investors to buy stakes or bonds in specific projects.Investors approach JSE Private Placements (JPP), specifying what kind of deals they are looking for and the amount of money they are willing to invest. They can choose from a range of potential deals, and can then buy stakes in projects via the JPP platform.On Thursday night, the JPP platform brokered its first deal for a private hospital in Musina on the border of South Africa and Zimbabwe.In December 2021, JSE Private Placements received a licence to raise private capital in both equity and debt. The new JSE subsidiary targets both listed and unlisted private equity firms, venture capital funds and private debt issuers. – Fin24Standard Bank chair retiresStandard Bank Group says Thulani Gcabashe will retire as its chairman and director of its board in the upcoming AGM on 31 May.Gcabashe has been the chairman of the Standard Bank Group and Standard Bank SA boards since May 2015. He has served as a director on both boards for 19 years."The boards wish to express deep appreciation to Thulani for his exemplary leadership, stewardship and dedication to the Standard Bank Group during his tenure and wish him all the success in his future endeavours," said the bank in a short statement.Investors who hold almost a third of Standard Bank shares (32.37%) voted against the re-election of Gcabashe at the 2021 AGM.At the time, shareholder activist group Just Share said it would be interesting to see when asset managers release their voting records whether the "unusually high level of votes" against the re-election of a sitting chair had anything to do with shareholders&#039; dissatisfaction with Standard Bank&#039;s handling of climate risk.Environmental activists and other shareholders have been criticising Standard Bank&#039;s decisions to finance or advise on the transactions of fossil fuel projects. At the past few AGMs, Gcabashe and Standard Bank CEO Sim Tshabalala have had to step in to prevent the meetings from descending into chaos as activists took over with their relentless questions. – Fin24

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