Cape Town, Africa-based Sanlam said it was looking for a life insurer to invest in Southeast Asia. In an interview with Reuters, the South African financial services group said the future acquisition would be paid by using its surplus capital. Sanlam Chief Executive Officer Johan van Zyl said his company planned to spend anywhere from ZAR 500 million to ZAR 800 million for the acquisition. Sanlam had surplus cash amounting to ZAR 3.2 billion as of end of June.

Johan van Zyl also said it planned to raise its holdings in its Indian businesses once the Indian government would remove the limits it had imposed on ownership of foreign investors. Sanlam had already allocated ZAR 800 million for the purpose, he told Reuters.

In a news release, Sanlam said that they had made two major investments in India. Sanlam invested ZAR 2.1 billion in Shriram Capital and another worth ZAR 1.1 billion was invested on Shriram Transport Finance.