Re/insurance group Africa Specialty Risks has launched ASR Syndicate 2454. It has a focus on African risks and is managed by Apollo. The syndicate has targeted £70m of gross written premium for 2024 and began underwriting on 26 April this year. Lines include political risk and trade credit, political violence and terrorism, parametric, energy, property, construction, liability and treaty.

Mikir Shah, CEO of ASR, said: “We are delighted that Syndicate 2454 is now up and running at Lloyd’s. Across ASR, we are building a business whose prime mission is to increase insurance penetration across Africa, and Syndicate 2454 is another positive step in helping us achieve our objective.

“Working with Apollo and Lloyd’s, we hope to be able to bring innovative risk mitigation solutions to the African insurance market and encourage high quality international capital and investment to take advantage of the vast opportunities we see on the continent.”