CGEM’s Mehdi Tazi Becomes AXA Assurance’s Majority Shareholder

Mehdi Tazi, a businessman and member of Morocco’s business confederation (CGEM) has acquired 80% of leading insurance provider AXA Assistance Maroc through Expanso, his holding company.

Rabat – Mehdi Tazi, a businessman and member of Morocco’s business confederation (CGEM) has acquired 80% of leading insurance provider AXA Assistance Maroc through Expanso, his holding company.

Tazi acquired the shares from AXA Partners, who is no longer a stakeholder in the Moroccan issuance company, according to a press release quoted in converging news reports.

The agreement between the two parties states that AXA Assistance Morocco will take over from AXA Partners all local insurance-related activities within African markets with the exception of Algeria.

With the new acquisition, Mehdi Tazi, currently president of Expanso, is edging a step closer to his ambition of “rethinking the insurance enterprise in terms of digital maturity level,” the businessman said in a statement.

He added that his main goal as a new shareholder is “to make AXA Assistance Morocco a continental leader in insurtech, technology-focused insurance services, and providing insurance to people in emergency situations.”

But the new acquisition still requires a final authorization from Morocco’s capital market authorities in the course of 2022.

AXA Assurance Maroc was Morocco’s sixth-largest insurance provider as of 2020, with a market share of 10.76%.

Days before announcing the acquisition, the company had reported recording outstanding growth net revenues in the past year.

Over the past year, the AXA Assurance’s mother company AXA Assurance grossed over $106 billion, a sweeping 61% year-on-year growth

The company’s positive performance was especially impressive in terms of health-related insurance which grew at an annual rate of +5%.

“AXA delivered an excellent performance in 2021 on all fronts. We have significantly transformed and simplified the Group in recent years and this strategy is producing strong results, with revenues and earnings increasing across all lines of business,” Thomas Buberl, AXA Assurance’s CEO, said in a statement.