Top Italian Finance Company Sace Enters South African Market

SACE Group launch Africa Program Using their Johannesburg office as an entry point, SACE will launch their insurance offering into sub-Saharan Africa.

The South African financial and insurance market has received a huge boost with the entrance of one of the world's largest players, the Italian firm Sace.

Sace is well-known throughout the world, having insured commercial transactions and financing around the globe that are worth a staggering 32 billion Euros. Sace's insurance products can be found in 150 countries in the world.

Targeting South Africa's insurance market is part of Sace's larger Africa Program, and the company intends using its new Johannesburg office as an entry point into the Sub Saharan and Southern African region. So far, the group has achieved 490 million Euros in new African commitments, and has assessed no fewer than 65 transactions in a wide number of fields, including infrastructure and transportation in the past five months.

The Head of Sace South Africa, Michael Creighton said about the group's entry into the South African market: "This opening of a Johannesburg office confirms Sace's special attention to the Southern African region. Sace's presence is intended to reinforce its support to Italian and foreign investors in the Sub-Saharan region, characterized both by strong potential and relevant investment opportunities."

The Sace Africa Program has been planned to offer more flexible terms of cover for companies who are exporting or investing in the Sub Saharan region. "Following years of political instability," said Ivan Giacoppo, speaking for Sace, "most Sub-Saharan countries went through a broad restructuring process, supported by the International Monetary Fund World Bank debt relief initiative. Structural reforms helped to create a more favorable operating environment. Some of these countries are achieving sustainable growth."