Mudavadi-Timamy Group to Pay KSh3 Billion for Absa’s Kenyan Insurance Stakes

Investors linked to Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Lamu Governor Issa Timamy have agreed to pay KSh3 billion to acquire majority interests in two Kenyan insurers from South Africa’s Absa Group.

First Assurance Investments Limited will purchase Absa’s 63.3 per cent holding in Absa Life Assurance Kenya and a similar share in First Assurance Kenya Limited, subject to clearance by the Competition Authority of Kenya.

The price suggests a combined equity value of roughly KSh4.74 billion according to one source and KSh4.77 billion according to another.

First Assurance Investments is owned 47.5 per cent by Exclusive Holding Limited, which is associated with Governor Timamy, and 52.5 per cent by Syndicate Nominees, a company Mudavadi said he owned during his 2022 Cabinet vetting, giving him an overall 21.26 per cent stake in the insurer.

The transaction would reverse a 2015 deal in which Mudavadi- and Timamy-linked investors sold the same stakes to Barclays Africa, the predecessor of Absa, for KSh2.2 billion.

Absa Life Assurance Kenya is counted among the country’s leading life insurers, while First Assurance Kenya, founded in 1930 as Prudential Assurance Company, ranks 13th among general insurers.

Absa’s sale forms part of a wider move away from direct insurance ownership, having already disposed of operations in Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique and simultaneously increasing its share in Absa Bank Kenya by 3.49 percentage points through a KSh30.9 billion purchase of 189.38 million shares.

In the year to December 2025, Absa Bank Kenya’s bancassurance profit rose 35 per cent to KSh1.3 billion, whereas Absa Life’s net profit fell 26 per cent to KSh790.1 million.

A person familiar with the deal, who requested anonymity, said, “The parties have settled on a KSh3 billion deal. They aim to conclude the transaction before the end of the financial year.”

The buyback comes amid a wave of consolidation in Kenya’s insurance sector, including ICEA Lion’s KSh8.5 billion stake repurchase, while overall insurance penetration remains around three per cent.

Final approval rests with the Competition Authority of Kenya, which must assess the competition implications before the transaction can be completed.

Other shareholders in First Assurance include Stephen Githiga (4.0 per cent), Chandaria Ventures Limited (1.67 per cent), Epoch Investments Limited (0.84 per cent) and Absa Pension Services Limited (0.84 per cent).