Edinburgh office of Leapfrog’s £15m investment in micro-insurance

THE Edinburgh office of global social investment fund LeapFrog has brokered a $15 million (£9.3m) investment in a company that provides low-cost insurance products to millions of people in rural India.

The deal was led by Stewart Langdon, the fund’s Edinburgh-based director of investments, and is its second $15m investment in the sector within a year. Last September, it formed a partnership with Shriram Capital to provide insurance, as well as savings and investment products, to an estimated ten million Indians.

Langdon said: “We focus on what we call profit with purpose – investing in businesses that are financially successful but have a large-scale social impact. We have an in-house team of insurance experts who can help them with that.”

Low-cost or micro-insurance offers low premiums and small coverage limits and is aimed at consumers and businesses not served by regular insurance.

LeapFrog’s latest investment will see it take a 15 per cent stake in Mahindra Insurance Brokers (MIB), which has served more than 2.5 million people since it was formed in 2004 and offers insurance on their assets and loans taken out to buy tractors and other vehicles.

MIB is part of the Mumbai-based conglomerate Mahindra Group, whose interests span aerospace, financial services and property.

Langdon said LeapFrog’s team in Edinburgh was looking at further investments in the micro-insurance sector in Sri Lanka.