Resolution Insurance is planning to venture into general insurance after private equity firm LeapFrog Investment announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the firm.
LeapFrog, with interests in Africa and Asia, last week said it will invest Ksh1.68 billion ($14.8 million) in Resolution Insurance through holding company Resolution Health East Africa Ltd. The company has operations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
“We are looking at tapping into general insurance soon… and we are hitting the ground immediately,” a source who preferred anonymity told The EastAfrican.
Resolution Insurance was licensed last year as a general insurer by the country’s Insurance Regulatory Authority but it could not diversify its products due to inadequate capital.
Peter Nduati, CEO of Resolution said the partnership with LeapFrog brings in a new entrepreneurial ethos and commitment to financial inclusion.
LeapFrog partner Dominic Liber said the firm’s investment plan is to position Resolution to expand its reach in health insurance cover.
“East Africa is home to a 150 million-strong population with insurance penetration rates below four per cent, creating a vast opportunity to deliver financial inclusion at scale,” Mr Liber said.
East Africa is a high potential insurance market estimated to be worth $2 billion, with Kenya’s non-life insurance market growing rapidly at 20 per cent per annum, fuelled by a robust health insurance sector expanding at 38 per cent per year.
LeapFrog’s new investment comes barely two months after it sold its minority stake in Kenya’s Apollo Investments Ltd to Swiss Re Direct Investment Company Ltd.
The East African
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