Huge Assets for Discovery Invest

November 27 - Good news from Discovery, the owner of South Africa's biggest health insurer.

The group has announced that its investment unit will reach a staggering R10 billion in assets by next year.

The announcement was made by Discover Holdings Ltd Chief Executive Officer, Adrian Gore on Tuesday this week.

Discovery Invest was established by the parent group in 2007 and currently has R6 billion in assets.

Once this figure reaches R10 billion, Discovery Invest will be profitable, according to the CEO.

Speaking in a media interview, Adrian Gore said: "The business is relatively new and we think it will be profitable over 10 billion Rand."

"The intention is to build it quite significantly, quite rapidly," he said.

Discovery has proven to be particularly robust in the market, despite the recession and other market factors. The group has managed to perform well compared to its peers in the industry.

In September, Discovery posted a rise in full year profit due to its good market position and the acceleration in new business.

Discovery entered into a joint venture with the UK based Prudential Plc to form PruHealth and currently insures close to a quarter of a million people.

The CEO believes that the health business will continue to grow and expand over the next half a year.

He also expected to see improvements in the performance of Discovery's life unit.