INSPENONLINE: LeapFrog to invest $29m in IFMR Capital

Monday 31 March 2014

LeapFrog to invest $29m in IFMR Capital

LeapFrog Investments, the specialist investor in financial services in growth markets Africa and Asia, has announced a U.S $29m investment into India’s IFMR Capital. The deal is the first to be made from LeapFrog’s Fund II.

Acting as a bridge between capital markets and high quality financial institutions that reach under-served households and businesses, IFMR Capital operates in over 345 districts across 24 states in India. Today, these institutions deliver credit, insurance and other financial services to over 6.6 million active borrowers and 7.6 million insured customers.

Besides the capital, LeapFrog Investments brings on-board their operational expertise and knowledge of best practices across international markets. A key focus of the partnership will be to leverage IFMR Capital’s structuring expertise, reach and relationships across financial products and sectors in India.

Commenting on the deal, Dr. Jim Roth, Co-Founder of LeapFrog Investments, said, "IFMR Capital is led by an impressive leadership team that aligns exceptional business acumen with a strong sense of social purpose. The demand for financial springboards and safety nets in India is growing fast, on a very large scale; IFMR Capital recognized this need early. In a short time, they have built a high road between the capital markets and the institutions and India’s emerging middle class; we look forward to working with them now to create a financial highway."

CEO of IFMR Capital, Dr. Kshama Fernandes, said, "There is a strong shared sense of purpose between LeapFrog Investments and IFMR Capital about our approach towards sustainably promoting financial inclusion. We believe we will be able to leverage our common strengths towards this goal and are delighted to have them as our partner. Their investment and their international team’s distinctive expertise will help enhance our capacity and our ability to provide valuable product and service offerings to our clients. It will also deepen our access to a wider class of international investors."

Bindu Ananth, President of IFMR Trust said, "This investment is an important milestone for us. IFMR Capital was created by us to enable risk transmission for high-quality originators operating in under-banked markets. The participation of LeapFrog significantly strengthens our ability to work with a much larger number of originators across asset classes in the coming years and make access to financial services a reality for millions of low-income households in India".

The30millionmicro, small and medium–sized enterprises in India today account for 45% of Indian industrial output, yet only 5-10% have access to formal sources of funding. The market for financing such enterprises is expected to grow from US$ 1.5 billion to US$ 6.35billion by 2020. The total affordable housing shortage in India today represents a financing requirement of US$ 185 billion.

IFMR Capital has, over the last five years, developed a specialized platform for enabling access to finance for these sectors. With over US$ 1 billion of financing enabled across 150 plus capital market transactions, IFMR Capital is well poised to cater to the requirement of capital across these sectors.

LeapFrog has significant experience investing in and building profitable financial service companies reaching emerging consumers in growth markets. In 2013, LeapFrog’s portfolio companies reached 19.5 million people across 13 countries. Over 15 million of these people are low-income or emerging consumers, the vast majority with limited or no previous access to financial services.

Rothschild acted as financial advisor to IFMR Capital.

Source India Infoline

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Lawal is Inspen 2014 insurance man of the year

The former President Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) Fatai Lawal has emerged the 2014 Inspenonline Insurance Man of the year.

Fatai who is the the Managing Director Sterling Assurance Nigeria Limited was named today, at the Nigerian Insurance and Pension Award organised by Inspenonline.

Chief Executive Officer Inspenonline Media, Chuks Udo Okonta, said Lawal was picked from the votes casted by the public and other considerations made by the award's panel of assessors.

He noted that the winner raised the bar at the the Institute and the industry by opting to serve a tenure which was eventful and impactful. He added that amongst the legacies left by the winner was the printing and donation of Insurance books to secondary and tertiary institutions aimed at deepening insurance awareness.

Okonta noted that the award, which started two years ago with the recognition of two distinguished individuals and an underwriting company, has now come to stay.

"This year, we decided to raise the bar by setting high standards to judge the operations of companies and impacts made by individuals in moving insurance and pension business forward.

"To achieve this, we gave the public the opportunity to select those to be celebrated by calling for votes. Having harmonised the votes which came from different parts of the country, we benchmarked the scores with the set standard to arrive at the winners we are celebrating today," he said.

Others winners are AIICO Insurance Plc, Insurance company of the year; FUG Pensions Limited, Pension Fund Administrator of the Year; YOA Insurance Brokers Limited and Glanvill Enthoven Insurance Brokers Limited, Insurance Broker of the year.

Professional Excellence Award went to Professor Joe Irukwu; Best Professional Group went to the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria and Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria; Corporate Brand went to Mansard Insurance Plc and Leadway Assurance Limited while Corporate Social Responsibility Award was won by Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc.

The organisers also recognised organisations that distinguished themselves, with Excellence Award. Organisations in this category include the National Pension Commission, Lagos State Pension Commission, Goldlink Insurance Plc and Pension Transition Administration Directorate.

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