Sanlam Maroc Drops Below 5% Stake in Salafin After Major Share Sale

Marrakech – Morocco’s capital markets regulator, the Moroccan Capital Markets Authority (AMMC), announced that Sanlam Maroc offloaded 130,000 Salafin shares on the Casablanca Stock Exchange’s central market on May 19.

Executed at a unit price of MAD 450.10 ($45.01), the transaction brought the insurer’s stake in the consumer credit firm down to just 0.85% of Salafin’s capital.

Sanlam Maroc now holds only 26,730 Salafin shares. The sale triggered a mandatory disclosure after the insurer crossed below the 5% ownership threshold, prompting the AMMC to issue a formal press release dated May 25.

The regulator noted that Sanlam Maroc intends to halt its sales of Salafin stock within the six months following the threshold crossing.

The latest divestment marks a continuation of Sanlam Maroc’s gradual withdrawal from Salafin’s shareholder base. In February 2025, the AMMC disclosed that the insurer had sold 90,500 Salafin shares on February 11 at a unit price of MAD 552.50 ($55.25), dropping below the 10% participation threshold at the time.

Following that earlier transaction, Sanlam Maroc still held 300,685 shares, representing 9.62% of Salafin’s capital. The company had then signaled its intention to continue selling.

The price difference between the two transactions is pronounced. Salafin shares traded at MAD 552.50 ($55.25) in February 2025 but fell to MAD 450.10 ($45.01) by the time of the May 2026 sale, reflecting a decline of roughly 18.5% over the period.

Strong fundamentals amid a looming merger

Despite its retreat from Salafin, Sanlam Maroc’s core insurance operations continue to perform well. The insurer reported a total revenue of MAD 2.28 billion ($228 million) in the first quarter of 2026, up 9.5% year-on-year. Non-life revenue reached MAD 2.01 billion ($201 million), a 4% increase, while the life insurance segment surged 81% to MAD 268 million ($26.8 million).

On the balance sheet side, assets allocated to insurance operations stood at MAD 18.25 billion ($1.825 billion) as of March 31, 2026, up 1.6% from the end of 2025. Net technical provisions rose 5.7% over the same period, reaching MAD 16.5 billion ($1.65 billion).

For the full year 2025, Sanlam Maroc posted a global revenue of MAD 6.195 billion ($619.5 million), a slight 1.4% decline from 2024. The non-life segment, which accounts for 91% of premiums, grew 3.2%, while the life branch contracted following the end of the insurer’s bancassurance partnership with Crédit du Maroc.

Net income rose 7.9% to MAD 451 million ($45.1 million), up from MAD 418 million ($41.8 million) in 2024. Insurance-linked assets reached MAD 17.96 billion ($1.796 billion), a 6.5% increase. The company also proposed a dividend of MAD 98 ($9.8) per share for 2025, up more than 20% from the MAD 81 ($8.1) paid for 2024.

Sanlam Maroc is also preparing for a major structural shift. The insurer’s planned merger with Allianz Maroc is expected to take effect in early July 2026, pending regulatory approvals. The combination would expand Sanlam Maroc’s distribution network from 550 to 750 points of sale across the country.