Pan-African reinsurer expands its team in Mauritius

Africa Specialty Risks (ASR) is pursuing its expansion in Mauritius, based on the strong
performance and growth of its operations in Mauritius since the launch of the business last year.

ASR is a pan-African reinsurance business focused on providing risk mitigating insurance solutions to the African Corporate and Specialty market.

In May 2021, ASR launched a fully capitalised and licensed Reinsurer, based in Mauritius, to meet the needs of the African continent.

It is backed by Helios Investment Partners, the largest Africa- focused private investment firm, through its latest private equity fund Helios Investors IV, L.P. whose investors include CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution) and the International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), as well as institutional investors.

A senior management team based in London visited Mauritius in the second half of March to meet and train members of the growing team.

The team included Mikir Shah, Chief Executive Officer, Bryan Howett, Chief Financial Officer, Caroline Hilton, Head of Treasury and Capital Management and Martin Boreham, Head of Liability Underwriting.

They also met with local regulators, policy makers and market players to update them on the progress of the business and to explain their plans for further expansion.

Mikir Shah, CEO of Africa Specialty Risks, commented: “We chose to set up Africa Specialty Risks Reinsurer in Mauritius as we see it as a central hub for Africa, with a skilled workforce. We have already helped to de-risk US$3.5 billion of investments into Africa by
providing the specialist insurance coverage, and we have already written business in 45 countries. This proves the strong potential of Mauritius as a reinsurance hub for the continent.”

Krishna Bheenick, Managing Director Mauritius, said: “Since our launch we have already hired 15 local staff in Mauritius, across underwriting, finance, actuarial, and risk and compliance functions and we will continue to expand our team as the business grows.”