Inside the NSE: Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya (SLAM)

Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya has one of the more tangled corporate histories on the NSE: a company that started life insuring the Indian community in colonial Kenya, was the first insurer ever listed on the exchange, spent decades as Pan Africa Insurance, became Sanlam Kenya, and only in late 2025 took its current name after two of the world’s largest insurers merged their African operations. Here’s the full picture.

History and Founding Story

The company was founded on 26 October 1946 as the Indo Africa Insurance Company Limited, and began writing life insurance business the following year, initially serving Kenya’s Indian community during the colonial period.

In 1963, the same year Kenya gained independence, the company achieved a notable first: it became the very first insurance company to list its shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, making it one of the oldest continuously listed counters on the bourse.

That same year, it was renamed Pan Africa Insurance, a name it would carry for decades as it broadened its customer base beyond its original community and grew into a household brand in Kenyan life insurance.

The next major turning point came in the 2000s and 2010s, when South African financial services giant Sanlam, itself established in 1918 and now the largest non-banking financial services company in Africa, built up a controlling stake in the Kenyan business.

The company was rebranded Sanlam Kenya Plc, reflecting its new parentage.

In May 2022, Sanlam and German insurance giant Allianz SE announced a landmark deal: combining their operations across nearly all of Africa (excluding South Africa, with Namibia added later) into a single joint venture, aiming to become the largest Pan-African non-banking financial services entity on the continent.

The joint venture, SanlamAllianz, officially launched in September 2023, with equity split 60% to Sanlam and 40% to Allianz.

The consolidation reached Kenya specifically through a related but separate transaction: Jubilee Holdings’ 2020 sale of controlling stakes in its general insurance subsidiaries to Allianz, which were rebranded Jubilee Allianz and later, in 2025, folded into the wider SanlamAllianz structure when Jubilee sold its remaining minority stakes.

On 9 October 2025, Sanlam Kenya shareholders approved a name change to Sanlam Allianz Holdings (Kenya) Plc, formally reflecting the completed merger of the Sanlam and Allianz businesses in the country under one listed entity.

Core Business Lines / Revenue Streams

Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya operates as a non-banking financial services group, with insurance underwriting at its core alongside a growing suite of savings and retirement products.

Life and general insurance: The group underwrites both life and non-life insurance risks in Kenya, through subsidiaries including Sanlam Allianz Life Insurance Kenya, offering protection, savings, and general insurance covers.
Retirement and annuity products: In February 2026, the group launched the Sanlam Allianz Income Drawdown Fund, expanding its retirement product range beyond traditional annuities to let customers draw a flexible income from their retirement savings.
Savings products: The group has also expanded its savings offering with products like Flexi Future Plus, designed to help customers save and draw income across different life stages.
Investment income: As with most insurers, a meaningful share of profit comes from returns on the group’s investment portfolio, though this has proven volatile recently, swinging from a KSh1.5 billion gain to an KSh863.9 million loss in other investment revenue between the first halves of 2025 and 2026.

Competitive Position in Its Industry

Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya’s most important competitive asset is arguably its global parentage: it is now the Kenyan arm of what its founders describe as the largest Pan-African non-banking financial services entity on the continent, backed by the combined scale, product expertise, and capital strength of Sanlam and Allianz across roughly 27 to 29 African countries.

Locally, the picture is more mixed. The company posted a net loss of KSh127 million in 2023, driven largely by rising finance costs in a high interest rate environment, a reminder that global backing doesn’t immunise a subsidiary from local market conditions.

Recovery has been underway since: the first half of 2026 delivered total comprehensive profit of KSh124.6 million, more than four times the KSh30.9 million posted a year earlier, with management citing a 32% jump in gross written premiums and tighter cost control.

However, the underlying insurance business showed signs of strain in that same period, with the insurance service result falling 34.5% to KSh241.3 million and investment returns dropping 83.3%, meaning much of the reported profit improvement reflected the absence of a prior year loss from discontinued operations rather than pure underwriting strength.

Group CEO Dr. Patrick Tumbo described the business as “fundamentally stronger and better capitalised” than eighteen months earlier, pointing to a balance sheet that surpassed KSh40 billion for the first time and a solvency ratio of 266%, well above regulatory minimums.

Its main listed competitors, Britam Holdings, Jubilee Holdings, and CIC Insurance Group, all compete for similar life, health, and general insurance customers, though Sanlam Allianz’s direct link to Jubilee’s former general insurance business (following the 2025 stake transfer) means the competitive map among these companies has shifted meaningfully in recent years.

Ownership Structure

Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya is a foreign controlled, publicly traded company, majority owned by the Sanlam Allianz Africa joint venture rather than by Kenyan founders, the state, or a cooperative body.

Hubris Holdings Limited (a Sanlam Allianz Africa subsidiary): The controlling shareholder, holding a 57.14% stake in the company, giving the SanlamAllianz joint venture effective control of the Kenyan listed entity.
Allianz Europe BV: Has separately built up an indirect shareholding in the company, increasing its stake from 23.09% to 28% through a conditional share purchase agreement with Sanlam Emerging Markets, part of the broader alignment of Sanlam and Allianz’s African shareholdings following their joint venture formation.
Public and institutional shareholders: The remainder is held by Kenyan and regional institutional investors, pension funds, and retail shareholders trading on the NSE.

That structure makes Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya one of the more clearly foreign controlled entities in this series, distinct from banks like Equity or KCB where local ownership predominates, or insurers like Jubilee and CIC where a single long standing local or regional institution anchors the register.

Why It’s Listed on the NSE Specifically

The company’s NSE listing predates the exchange’s modern form entirely: it became the first insurance company ever listed on what would become the Nairobi Securities Exchange back in 1963, the same year as Kenyan independence.

That historical first gives it a genuinely unique place among NSE counters, an insurer whose public market history stretches back to the country’s earliest days as an independent nation.

The listing has endured through multiple ownership changes, from a community focused colonial era insurer, to a Kenyan household name as Pan Africa Insurance, to a Sanlam controlled subsidiary, to its current identity as the local face of a pan-African joint venture between two global insurance giants.

Throughout, the NSE listing has given Kenyan investors continuous access to the business, and it has given Sanlam and Allianz a transparent, regulated vehicle for their Kenyan operations, subject to local disclosure and governance standards even as its ultimate ownership sits with foreign parent companies headquartered in South Africa and Germany.

Current Stock Price

Recent trading data put Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya’s share price at around KSh7.88, up 23.9% over the preceding year but down 11.66% over the past month and 23.12% over the past three months, reflecting a fairly volatile trading pattern.

The stock’s 52 week range has spanned KSh6.18 to KSh11.00, and its market capitalisation stands at roughly KSh1.1 billion, notably smaller than several of its larger listed insurance peers. Since its earlier Sanlam Kenya era IPO, the share price remains down about 9.08% cumulatively.

Share prices move daily. For a live quote, check the NSE’s official market data page or a licensed brokerage platform before making any decisions.

How to Buy Sanlam Allianz Holdings Kenya Shares

You don’t need to be in Kenya to buy SLAM shares; it can be bought locally or from abroad:

Open a CDS (Central Depository System) account. This is Kenya’s electronic share registry account, required to hold any NSE listed stock. It’s opened through a licensed stockbroker or investment bank.
Choose a licensed NSE stockbroker or investment bank. Examples include firms like Standard Investment Bank, AIB-AXYS Africa, Genghis Capital, and Faida Investment Bank. A full list of licensed trading participants is available on the NSE website.
Fund your trading account via bank transfer, mobile money (M-Pesa is widely supported), or card, depending on the broker.
Place an order for SLAM through the broker’s trading platform, app, or by instructing your broker directly, specifying the number of shares or amount you want to invest.
For non resident and diaspora investors, several online platforms (such as mystocks.africa and similar cross border brokerages) let you open an account remotely, fund it in USD or your local currency, and buy NSE listed shares like SLAM without needing an in country presence, though you should confirm licensing and custody arrangements before using any platform.
Hold and track. Shares are held electronically in your CDS account. Note that available data indicates the stock’s dividend record has been weak in recent years, reflecting the company’s 2023 loss and subsequent rebuilding phase, so check the latest financial disclosures before assuming income from the shares.

This profile is for informational and editorial purposes and is not investment advice. Stock prices, especially, change constantly, so always verify current figures with the NSE or a licensed broker before making any investment decision. Other figures reflect the most recent publicly reported data as of 2026 and may change with new financial disclosures.