FirstRand announced the sale of its 45% stake in short-term insurer OUTsurance on Wednesday just over a week after successfully unbundling its stake in Momentum, a move that Avior Reasearch analyst, Faizal Moola, said was a sign that FirstRand is cleaning up its structure to be a pure banking play on the market.
Cooper, whose company RMBH holds 34% in FirstRand said: "I don't think that anything we have done or are proposing today closes that door. In fact the introduction of our new strategic partner enhances that processes and I think should there ever be any debate on a foreign investor a significant BEE shareholder would be a prerequisite in any such debate."
"We are not particularly trying to create a vehicle that is suited for that, but the structure we have does lend itself for a foreign investor directly investing and we will consider anything that is put on the table."
"I think we will always or we owe it to the shareholders who have co-invested with us that we should look at any discussion or any matter that arises and in the past we are on record that if anybody speaks to us we will consider it seriously."
RMBH is splitting the group into a focused banking entity.
"In other words the existing RMBH will hold all of our 34% in FirstRand and we will create a new holding company which will unbundle to shareholders in the ratio of one Rand Merchant Insurance Holding share for every one RMBH share that you currently hold and that entity will hold all of our insurance interests which is as I've described before MMI , OUTsurance, Discovery."
"We think that will be quite an attractive portfolio and the size of the holdings means we will have strategic stakes in all of those businesses. It should be an attractive portfolio of leading brands in the South African insurance sector," Cooper said. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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