Teju Phillips Pushes Lasaco Over The Recapitalization Huddle ~Omonaijablog

LASACO Assurance Plc, under the new able  leadership of Chief Mrs Teju Philips has  scaled the first  hurdle of few recapitalisation exercise for insurance and reinsurance compa­nies mulled  by the National Insur­ance Commission (NAICOM) which came up last year for the strengthening of  the finaicial bases of underwriters.

 According to positive information emanating from the Company, it has been able to meet the December 31st deadline of the first phase of recapitalization with the fresh injection of N3.5b by it's parent entity, the  Lagos State government that has vowed to keep the company in good stead to the advantage of shareholders and the general public.

This exercise would have been perfected earlier by  LASACO but the emergence of the corona­virus pandemic which forced global economic lockdown coupled with the #EndSARS protests which became vi­olent,  prevented it, thereby extending it to this month.

NICOM mandated underwriters to shore up their existing min­imum paid-up capital to N2 billion  in the first phase and  meet up the final mini­mum paid-up capital require­ments of N8 billion  by the end of September 2021.

NAICOM made it known that insur­ance companies that failed to satisfy the required minimum paid-up capital by December 31, 2020 shall be restricted on the scope of business they would transact.

LASACO Assurance Plc is a composite insurance and financial services company incorporated on 20th of December 1979 under the Companies Decree of 1968. The Company, then known as Lagos State Assurance Company Limited obtained License as an Insurer on 7th July 1980 and commenced business operations on 1st of August 1980.

With the vast opportunities presented by increased capitalization for business expansion and growth, LASACO became a Public Liability Company in 1991 when its Shares were admitted for the first time to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) through listing by Introduction.

 Now in its third decade, LASACO has grown considerably in size, business coverage, profits, capital base and assets with its operations spanning all classes of the Insurance and Special Risks business, high impact financial services and Real Estate. The Company’s businesses are conducted through a network of thirteen regional and branch offices spread across Nigeria, administered by well qualified, experienced and dedicated personnel.

Following our successful recapitalization in 2007, the Company’s total assets increased to N9, 897,073,000 with a combined authorized Group Share Capital in excess of N 6.5 billion and a paid-up share capital of N3.6 billion.

LASACO’s business portfolio currently includes leadership and significant share of key Federal and State Governments Insurance businesses, multinational and private companies underwriting businesses in major sectors of the economy, from heavy Engineering, and Construction, Banking and Finance, Manufacturing Agriculture, Tourism, Life Covers to the high-tech capital intensive, special risks areas of Oil and Gas, and Aerospace. LASACO’s business interests also include Real Estate, and through its various non-core business investments. The Company also holds Shares in many blue chip enterprises.