Billionaire Said Alj's Sanlam Maroc stake is worth $114 million
Moroccan industrialist Saïd Alj holds a 7.2% stake in Sanlam Maroc, valued at approximately $114 million following a recent merger with Allianz Maroc. Despite the merger, Alj remains the only significant local shareholder in a company now dominated by South African interests.
Why it matters
The report highlights shifts in ownership and consolidation within the African insurance market, reflecting broader trends of foreign investment in regional financial sectors.
Saïd Alj, the Moroccan industrialist whose companies make Titus, the best-known canned sardine brand on the continent, holds 384,928 shares in the insurer Sanlam Maroc worth about $114.2 million.
The stake represents 7.206% of the company. At 2,741 dirhams on the Casablanca Stock Exchange it is worth 1.06 billion dirhams, or $114.2 million converted at 9.24 dirhams to the dollar. The valuation is a Billionaires.Africa calculation.
Alj's position grew this summer without him buying anything. Sanlam Maroc absorbed Allianz Maroc in a merger the Moroccan capital markets authority approved on June 15, issuing 1,225,000 new shares at 2,090.23 dirhams on an exchange ratio of five Sanlam Maroc shares for every two in Allianz Maroc. Shareholders of both companies approved the deal on July 2 and the exchange took place on July 7, in a transaction valued at more than 2.5 billion dirhams.
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