History
The South African arm of the Zurich Group can be traced back to the 1800s.
Eagle Star came into existence in 1917 when Edward Mountain merged the interests of the British Dominions Marine Insurance Company with the Eagle and the Star Life. The latter two companies had been in existence for many years, the Eagle having been formed in Cole’s Coffee House at Cornhill London in 1807 and the Star Life in 1843. Both had South African connections. The Star Life was particularly active in this country (there is a record of a policy sold to a J Polkinghorne during 1849 in Heidelberg in the Cape) whereas the Eagle’s association was through one of its forerunners, the United Empire & Continental Life.
Eagle Star operated in South Africa through the Bullen Brothers’ agency until 1937 when the company established an office in Cape Town. Other branches were subsequently opened in Johannesburg and Durban. In 1965 Eagle Star South Africa merged with two local companies, African Guarantee & Indemnity (founded in 1911 by IW Schlesinger) and SA Fire & Accident (founded in 1932 by a group of Johannesburg businessmen) to form SA Eagle.
The company made its debut on the then Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1968. Originally a composite insurance company, SA Eagle sold its life fund in 1972, having led the market with innovative equity-linked long-term products. Today the company operates in both the domestic and commercial markets, transacting all classes of short term insurance.
A deal in which SA Eagle was not directly involved, but which had a major impact on the company, was the take over in London in 1984 of Eagle Star of London by British American Tobacco (BAT) Industries. BAT, at that stage, was the sole shareholder of Eagle Star.
Following another merger with BAT Industries’ financial services businesses, Zurich Financial Services was formed and SA Eagle became part of the Zurich Financial Services Group.
In 2005, Zurich Financial Services signed an agreement to sell a 10% stake of the total issued share capital of SA Eagle to Royal Bafokeng Finance (Pty) Limited, a company wholly-owned by the Royal Bafokeng Nation. At the beginning of 2010, this was increased to 25.1%.
At the end of July 2007, SA Eagle started operating under the global Zurich brand. This sends a strong signal to the market that the operation is part of a global group, with access to the expertise and experience that comes from 135 years of serving customers in more than 170 countries.
Currently, Zurich in South Africa’s major shareholder, with 58.5% of the equity, is Zurich Financial Services. Royal Bafokeng Finance holds 25.1% and the remaining 16.4% is held by a number of minority shareholders.
