Emerging Capital Partners (ECP), an international private equity firm focused on investing across the African continent, has purchased a significant minority stake in la Nouvelle Societe Interafricaine d’Assurance Participations SA (NSIA), the insurance group in French-speaking west and central Africa.
ECP’s US $47.7 million (euro 35 million) investment – made through the purchase of common shares – is the firm’s largest investment in an African financial services firm to date. The capital will provide NSIA with resources for organic and external growth as well as the equity strengthening of the company’s banking affiliate, Banque Internationale d’Afrique Occidentale (BIAO).
NSIA is headquartered in Cote d’Ivoire and offers life and non-life insurance services. Along with BIAO, the group focuses on geographic expansion and development of the bancassurance concept, which is the selling of insurance products by banks. This allows NSIA and BIAO to offer a package of banking, investment and insurance products to customers in west and central Africa, where average insurance penetration is less than 1%.
“African insurance companies are in a period of rapid growth due to economic liberalization and regulation that is becoming more standardized across regions,” says Hurley Doddy, chief operating officer of ECP. “NSIA is already a market leader, which means it should be in a prime position to capitalize on west and central Africa’s tremendous growth potential.”
“ECP has found that African financial services firms continue to drive positive development and returns across the continent,” says Vincent le Guennou, executive vice president of ECP. “We look forward to working with the company’s management team and exploring potential synergies with ECP’s other portfolio companies as we expand the business.”
The investment in NSIA is ECP’s ninth in the African financial services sector.
L.D.