By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A private-equity investment firm is looking at putting its money into one of the pension fund administrators (PFAs) in Nigeria.
Information has it that the investor, LeapFrog Investments, wants to partner with ARM Pensions Managers Limited to expand its operations in the country.
At the moment, ARM Pensions has $1.8 billion in funds under management reaching about 700,000 people through 57 locations across the country.
Nigeria’s pension-fund assets have more than quadrupled over the past nine years to N8 trillion ($22 billion), according to data compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics, as the nation of over 200 million people makes it mandatory for companies to have retirement plans for workers.
Bloomberg reports that LeapFrog hopes to assist ARM Pensions improve its digital-service channels, facilitate partnerships and boost brand awareness to help retain and add customers.
At least 89 percent of employed Nigerians are still not registered for pensions, giving LeapFrog access to one of the fastest-growing areas in the country’s financial-services industry, said Karima Ola, a partner at the firm.
It was learned that the deal with ARM Pensions followed LeapFrog’s exit from Ghana’s Petra Trust Co. Ltd. in February this year, which it turned around to become the West African country’s second-largest pension’s provider, with average compound revenue growth of 76 percent. LeapFrog bought 25 percent of Petra Trust in 2014.
In 2012, the firm partnered with ARM’s parent company ARM Group, the country’s largest independent asset manager, to offer life insurance and savings products in Nigeria.
LeapFrog has interests in healthcare and financial-services businesses spanning 149 Asian and African markets.
