Alexander Forbes Group Holdings, commonly referred to as Alexforbes is a diversified financial services organisation. The company is headquartered in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, with a presence in two other countries on the

African continent Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

and

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

and in the Channel Islands through an offshore Jersey operation. The company offers employee benefits consulting (including healthcare), investment management, insurance and wealth management solutions to both corporate clients and individual customers. It is listed on the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

(JSE) and its clients span both the private and public sector market segments on the institutional side, and individual members. The company’s principal geographic focus is South Africa (where it has been operating since 1935) sub-Saharan Africa and the Channel Islands.

History

Alexforbes operations date back to the consolidation of insurance agencies in South Africa in 1935, when the original business was founded as Price Forbes, later changing its name to Price Forbes Life and Pension Brokers in 1955. In the 1970s, Price Forbes Life and Pension Brokers began diversifying its range of services to include fund administration, employee benefit consulting and actuarial services as well as retirement and estate planning. Due to the diversification, the business name was changed to Price Forbes Employee Benefits Consultants. Following a number of acquisitions by the group in the early 1980s, the name was changed to Alexander Forbes Financial Services. The Group commenced international expansion in 1990 with the establishment of a small insurance brokerage operation in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, which the Group later expanded through the acquisition of Nelson Hurst plc. The insurance brokerage business was also expanded into other African countries to continue servicing South African corporate clients which were expanding into these markets. In 2002, the Group further expanded its international financial services business through the acquisition of a 60% interest in Lane Clark & Peacock (LCP), a leading actuarial consultancy firm in the UK. This was followed by further acquisitions of the businesses that formed Investment Solutions in the UK, Alexander Forbes Consultants and Actuaries (AFCA UK) and Media Insurance Services (Direct Marketing), and the expansion of LCP into

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Between 2012 and 2014, the Group disposed of a number of these interests, including the sale of AFCA UK, Investment Solutions UK, Media Insurance Services, LCP Switzerland and Alexander Forbes Trustee Services to focus on its core markets. In 2006, Actis Capital LLP, Ethos Private Equity Ltd and Harbourvest Partners LLC made an offer of ZAR 7.4 Billion rand (US$980Million) for the acquisition of the entire stock of Alexander Forbes other than 30% that was held by Staff and B-BBEE Partner

Shanduka Group Shanduka Group was a South African investment holding company that had interests in extractive resources, telecommunications, food and beverage, property, financial services, energy, and industrial sectors. It was founded by the current South Afric ...

. The deal was said to be the largest and most complex leveraged buy-outs ever undertaken in Africa. This led to the delisting of Alexander Forbes from the JSE. On 24 July 2014, Alexander Forbes announced an offer for shares to existing shareholders,

institutional investors An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...

and to other selected investors. The Offer Shares were for sale at a price between ZAR 6.90 and ZAR 8.05 per share. The offer had

Deutsche Bank AG Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stoc ...

, Morgan Stanley & Company and

Rand Merchant Bank FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, ...

as its book runners. The

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

managed to raise ZAR 3.7 Billion (US$345 million). This IPO marked Alexander Forbes' return to the JSE since its exit in 2006. Alexander forbes operates in

and

. In 2019, the comapny won Five Year (Fund of Funds), HedgeNews Africa Awards''.'' In 2020, the company's CIO Sandra La Bella was awarded with Visionary CIO of the Year by The Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa. In 2021, the company was honored with Global Africa Fund Survey Providers- Best Investment Survey Provider.

Shareholding

Notable employees

* Former British Prime Minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

worked at the London office of the bank for a brief period in 1959.

References

{{Witwatersrand companies Companies based in Sandton Insurance companies of South Africa Financial services companies established in 1935 Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Financial services companies of South Africa 1935 establishments in South Africa

History

Shareholding

Notable employees

See also

References