(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Lamu Governor Issa Abdalla Issa Timamy is part of a group of investors set to buy majority stakes in two insurance firms from South Africa’s Absa Group.
Regulatory filings and court documents show the governor is a director and shareholder of First Assurance Investments Limited, the vehicle buying the majority stakes in Absa Life Assurance and First Assurance Kenya Limited.
Absa Group announced on Thursday last week that it has signed an agreement to sell its 63.3% stake in each of the two companies. The South African financial group is exiting the insurance business in several African countries, including Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique.
A search at the public registry shows that First Assurance Investments Limited is 47.5% owned by Exclusive Holding Limited, a company associated with Governor Timamy.
The other 52.5% is held by Syndicate Nominees, a company Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi said he owned during his vetting for the ministerial position in 2022. Mr Mudavadi is also the Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Cabinet Secretary.
The arrangement reflects a business union that turned into a political partnership. Mr Mudavadi served as the Amani National Congress party leader, with the governor as his deputy. ANC dissolved last year to allow a merger with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance.
Registry documents show that Issa Abdalla Issa directly owns 30% of Exclusive Holding Limited and his partner Salim Mohamed Busaidy owns 18%.
The Absa deal comes in the middle of a KES 363.3 million court battle pitting the governor and Mr Busaidy. The case has also drawn in the chief executives of NCBA Group, KCB Group and Co-operative Bank.
The criminal suit follows investigations into the alleged theft of KES 363.3 million from First Assurance Investment Ltd by Mr Busaidy. That is about $2.8 million and £2.2 million.
According to the charge sheet, he moved the money from the firm between May 18, 2018 and April 30, 2024 by exploiting his position as a director and accessing the company’s accounts held at NCBA Bank, KCB Bank Kenya and Co-operative Bank.
The prosecution says he forged the signature of his co director, the governor, on company cheques to allow the unlawful withdrawal of funds. Investigators say the forged cheques, valued at between KES 150,000 and KES 350,000 each, were presented as duly authorised, allowing the money to be withdrawn over several years.
Mr Busaidy denies 120 criminal charges, including conspiracy to defraud and steal, 114 counts of making a document without authority and one count of acquiring proceeds of crime.
Prosecutors are seeking to charge the three bank CEOs over failure to report suspicious transactions linked to the KES 363.3 million.
The case uncovered Governor Timamy’s links with First Assurance Investment. It remains to be seen if Mr Busaidy will take part in the fundraising for buying the Absa stakes as a shareholder of the investment group.
Sources close to the transaction say Absa Group will be seeking at least KES 3.8 billion for the two stakes. That is about $29.3 million and £23.2 million.
For Mr Mudavadi, Mr Timamy and their partner in First Assurance Investments Limited, the transaction will see them buy back the shares they sold to Absa, then Barclays Africa, in 2015 in a KES 2.2 billion deal.
Absa Life is the seventh largest life insurer while First Assurance Kenya is ranked 13th among general insurers in a market where premiums continue to grow. The current insurance penetration of 3% presents potential for investors seeking growth and dividends.
Absa’s exit from the insurance business in several countries marks a shift as it seeks to tap insurance income through bancassurance rather than direct ownership. The bancassurance model, where a bank sells insurance products, will allow Absa to profit from the sector through commissions without putting its capital on the line.
Absa Bank Kenya’s net profit from bancassurance grew by 35% to KES 1.3 billion in the year ended December 2025, placing it top in the country’s bancassurance business. During the same period, Absa Life’s net profit fell by 26% to KES 790.1 million.
Absa’s deal with First Assurance Investments Limited comes as the Johannesburg based group is increasing its stake in Absa Bank Kenya to 85% from 68.5% in a KES 30.9 billion deal.
Absa Group’s subsidiary, Absa Financial Services, last year sold its 100% stake in Absa Life Botswana to Hollard International, the international wing of South Africa’s Hollard Insurance Group. It sold its entire stake in Absa Life Zambia and its Mozambique insurance operations to the same entity the same year.
Absa Group said in its 2025 annual report that it switched to a bancassurance distribution model with key partners across its Africa regions, hence selling its insurance businesses in Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique.
Mr Mudavadi owns First Assurance through two investment vehicles, First Assurance Investments Limited and directly through Syndicate Nominees, with a 12.35% ownership, giving the Prime Cabinet Secretary a 21.26% stake.
Other shareholders of First Assurance are Mr Stephen Githiga with 4%, Chandaria Ventures Limited with 1.67%, and Epoch Investments Limited and Absa Pension Services Limited with 0.84% each.
Mr Githiga is the former chief executive officer of First Assurance Company and Sasini. Chandaria Ventures is associated with Darshan Chandaria and Neer Chandaria, while Epoch Investments is associated with Jambojet chairman Ayisi Makatiani.
Absa Life Assurance Kenya was licensed in 2015 and has grown into the top 10 life insurers bracket in the country. It was the first life insurer in Kenya to adopt bancassurance.
First Assurance was established in 1930 in Kenya as Prudential Assurance Company. Kenyan investors bought the entire stake from British investors in 1991.