Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) has acquired a stake in the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), a risk solutions provider, with a capital injection of US$14.8 million.
This equity investment is an affirmation of the long-standing ties between African and Japan under the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). To date, ATI has insured some of Japan’s private sector against the risk of non-payment on transactions, with a total value of US$4.9 billion.
In a news release, ATI CEO Manuel Moses congratulated Japan’s government-owned export credit agency for becoming the newest institutional shareholder of the African insurer.
“In recent years, ATI and NEXI have held a strong working relationship towards promoting trade and investment between Japan and Africa under the auspices of TICAD, and I am happy that our strategic collaboration has culminated in NEXI’s equity investment in ATI as a shareholder,” he said.
“We are confident that as Japan expands its FDIs and footprint into Africa, its membership in ATI will not only improve our institution’s capacity to support trade and investment across the continent but will also attract more Japanese investment-seeking for business opportunities in Africa’s population of over 1.2 billion people in the single market, under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),” Moses said.
In 2019, further leaps were made in the relationship between NEXI and ATI with the establishment of a “Japan desk” in the latter’s Nairobi office to support African developmental and commercial projects to help Japanese companies obtain easy access to reliable risk mitigation solutions.
Elsewhere in Japan, Japan Post Insurance announced a three-way, strategic partnership with investment firm KKR and life insurer Global Atlantic for Japan Post’s further growth and the diversification of its business portfolio into overseas markets.
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