Luxembourg-based InsuResilience Investment Fund has agreed to acquire a 39.25% stake in Royal Exchange General Insurance Company, one of the largest non-life insurance companies in Nigeria.

The InsuResilience Investment Fund has been set up by KfW, the German Development Bank, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and is managed by Swiss based Impact Investment Manager BlueOrchard Finance.

Royal Exchange General Insurance Company, subsidiary of Royal Exchange Plc, is a leading player in agriculture insurance.

Through its activities, the company is expected to reach out to more than 1 million farmers by 2025.

The proceeds of the investment will help Royal Exchange General Insurance Company to spur growth by increasing the company’s risk capital and supporting its underwriting capacity in agriculture, hereby extending its outreach to low income farmers.

Investment in Royal Exchange General Insurance Company aligns with the vision and principles of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, which was launched at the 2017 UN Climate Conference COP23 in Bonn by Germany.

The vision of the Partnership is to strengthen the resilience of developing countries and to protect the lives and livelihoods of poor and vulnerable people against the impacts of natural disasters. The Partnership's objective is to enable more timely and reliable post-disaster response through use of climate and disaster risk finance and insurance solutions to reduce impacts and help poor and vulnerable people recover more quickly.

Ernesto Costa, Senior Vice-President Private Equity at BlueOrchard, said: “The history, team and commitment of Royal Exchange General Insurance Company (REGIC) to agriculture insurance make it a great addition to our portfolio. The company is uniquely positioned to capture the opportunity presented by 30 million under-insured small-scale farmers in Nigeria. In the midst of Nigerian economy rebalancing its major economic sectors, REGIC has repositioned itself to meet the ever-changing needs of their clients to take full advantage of the opportunities that arise in the agriculture space.”

“Agriculture insurance is one of the new growth areas for the Company, and will definitely be one of the core areas of growth going forward. We are thrilled to partner with and support REGIC with capital, technical assistance and our international network in the agriculture insurance space, with the objective to increase the resilience of small-scale farmers to climate change,“ he added.

Kenneth Ezenwani Odogwu, Chairman of Royal Exchange, said that the company has entered into strategic alliances with various stakeholders in the agricultural space to foster insurance in this sector of the economy. “Agriculture and insurance are huge opportunities. We will continue to develop products and services to strengthen our leading position in this space. Royal Exchange General Insurance is determined to take advantage of growth opportunities in the sector, while leveraging technology to expand its revenue base and bottom-line.”