Alexander Forbes, South Africa’s largest pension fund administrator, has revealed its plans on making acquisitions in Tanzania and Ghana later this year.

Luendran Pillay, Managing Director of Alexander Forbes Afrinet (rest of Africa network), said: "Tanzania is probably in the short to medium term. Ghana is more in the short term. The idea is to buy businesses that are small and leverage them with the brand and technology as well as the skills, and grow that."

The expansion is in line with the company’s plans to leverage off the pension reforms.

Pillay added that an acquisition in Ghana would potentially be in the employment space as well as consulting and actuarial space.

Pillay told BDlive that the company had done work in Ghana “on a fly-in, fly-out basis”, and that had given it an opportunity to test the market and the regulatory environment.

He added Alexander Forbes’s entry strategy in the rest of Africa was pension-fund reform in an Anglophone footprint.

It also involved leveraging off the existing infrastructure to support the African businesses.

Over the past three years about 10% of the company’s staff component in the rest of Africa received training in South Africa.

The staff training was important to embed the skills, technology, culture, risk and compliance measures that Alexander Forbes espoused.

As the company makes acquisitions it will also seek to grow the businesses organically.

Pillay said the company was piloting the rollout of its retail client offering in countries such as Namibia, Botswana and Kenya.

Alexander Forbes announced on Monday it was issuing 2.9% (about 39-million shares) of its issued share capital as part of an employee share-ownership plan aimed at promoting broad-based black economic empowerment.

Black women participants are expected to receive 70% of the distribution.

The financial services business is the largest fund retirement administrator in South Africa with about 977,000 active member records under administration.

The business includes employee benefits, health, asset and actuarial consulting and insurance consulting.