Charter HCP has agreed a deployment tie-up with S.A Guarantee Limited, the Underwriting Managing Agency of Mutual & Federal Risk Financing Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Old Mutual.
The agreement covers an agency agreement for insurance to be offered by S.A Guarantee as well as Charter HCP acting as a deployment agent for and on behalf of SAG.
For SAG, the tie-up offers access to CHCPs deployment capacity in the region, whilst for CHCP the collaboration offers unprecedented levels of capital protection for its infrastructure transactions in Africa which has become a major focus for the company in recent years.
Liquidity and risk in ‘the new normal’
Nathan January, chief investment officer of SAG, said: “This agreement with Charter HCP offers us access to Charter’s expertise in structuring transactions and Due Diligence in the region, thereby enabling us to improve our risk profile for our own investors, whilst also accessing their significant client base Africa wide.
“At a time when we now have a clear mandate to expand our underwriting with an Africa focus, this can only be good for us’.
Adam Michaelson, director of private equity and head of the Africa desk at CHCP, said: “The ability to be able to underwrite what might be seen by some as transactions where risk is hard to quantify, by an AA rated financial institution is a real step forward in the delivery of project finance to Africa.
“As such, we regard it as a major addition to our ability to be able to fund such projects and to that end we are delighted to be working with SAG for this purpose.”