Arthur Els and Genesis announce merger

Started in 2004 by Arthur Els, and one of only two Certified Enterprise Risk Actuaries in South Africa, AE&A specialised in the valuation of retirement funds, preparation of accounting disclosure for companies' employee-benefit arrangements, asset-liability modeling, providing actuarial services to retirement funds and enterprise risk management.

Francois Rosslee and Tommie Doubell established Genesis in 2000, originally to provide actuarial calculations for the United Kingdom Pensions Review. Its independent team of actuaries provided pension fund services, but also became expert in Road Accident Fund calculations and in providing outsourced support for administrators and other actuarial firms as required.

Broader pool

Through ARGEN, both companies will be able to offer a broader pool of actuaries and a wider range of services. This, combined with the fact that the firm is committed to playing an independent but supportive role to funds and advisors, and the fact that they have significant African experience between them, make them an appealing alternative as an actuarial service provider.

"The nice thing about the merger is that the two companies do different things in different actuarial fields, so there are no retrenchments, or closing of offices - it really is a merger that will generate synergy. It's hard for an actuary to accept it, but in this case, one and one adds up to more than two!" says Francois Rosslee, director of the new venture.

"We can now offer new services to former Arthur Els & Associates clients, and vice versa, as far as Genesis goes," says Arthur Els, CEO. "There were a couple of reasons for the merger, but primarily, it allows us to create a deeper pool of actuaries, more security and a wider service offering to clients, and a significant African platform."

B-BBEE contributor

ARGEN has an active commitment to B-BBEE codes and social development, donating annually to bursaries that provide tertiary education for disadvantaged students. Significantly, ARGEN is classified as a Level 2 B-BBEE contributor in terms of the Codes of Good Practice promulgated by the Department of Trade and Industry, so clients can claim 125% of the firm's fees as procurement from a B-BBEE service provider.

By blending both its parent companies' assets, ARGEN now has offices in Centurion, Johannesburg, Kroonstad and Namibia, with plans to open a Cape Town office. It is keen to continue expanding its operations into the rest of Africa, taking advantage of opportunities created by the continent's development boom and growing consumer market. Both of these phenomena increase the need for actuarial services in support of funds and risk management - a need that ARGEN is perfectly positioned to fill.

"AE&A was already established in Namibia and Malawi - in fact, they had half the market in Namibia, so they're a big player there," says Doubell, "while Genesis had operations in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, and we were also doing business in the DRC and Nigeria. So the merger immediately expanded ARGEN's footprint into the rest of Africa, and we will be working actively to extend this."