Bermuda-based global reinsurance company Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Limited (FSR) is planning to enter the primary insurance business in India within a year's span.
FSR's executive chairman Mark Byrne said the company was looking for local partners for the primary insurance business and was ready to invest $30 million (about Rs 126 crore) and above in the new venture. It would like to hold a 49 per cent stake in the new company.
"We are looking for a financial services company, which can bring in distribution network," he said, adding that the company was scouting for domestic partners through its own network and some investment banks.
Addressing a press conference following the inauguration of FSR's Rs 65-crore Knowledge and Research Centre (KRC) in the financial district here on Thursday, Byrne said the company currently has a $1.6-billion underwriting capacity.
He said that FSR, which has a representative office in Mumbai, has been in the reinsurance business in India for the past 30 months. It has so far invested $30 million in its Indian operations.
"The likely investment in the proposed primary insurance company will be at a similar level or on a slightly bigger scale," Byrne said, pointing out that at present there were eight partnerships in India between overseas and domestic companies in the primary insurance sector.
FSR's chief information officer Venkat Mandava said that in the primary insurance sector the company would be going in for only general insurance. The NYSE-listed FSR has 800 clients globally and four in India.
The 150,000 square feet Hyderabad centre would accommodate 750 professionals. It currently has over 120 employees providing IT-enabled and knowledge processing services such as proprietary software development, research and development, catastrophe modeling, actuarial analysis, investment research and technical support for the company. The Andhra Pradesh government has allotted one acre of land for setting up the centre.
