Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited, a local reinsurance company, is to raise $100 million through private placement to improve its liquidity.

The move is meant to adequately capitalise the company to enter into other West African markets.

Mr. Gustav Siale, the Managing Director of the Ghana Reinsurance Company who disclosed this at the company’s annual general meeting in Accra said the government had given approval for the company to raise additional capital to finance its operations.

He said the intention of the company was to expand its operations and venture into other markets, saying the company already had presence in Cameroon and Kenya.

“We are confident of raising the $100 million from local companies before the end of the year,” he said.

Touching on the company’s performance in 2015, he said the company’s gross premium income grew by 20.27 percent from GHc104.39 million in 2014 to GHc125.55 million in 2015, stressing that the growth, was among other things, influenced by a 29 per cent increase in business written on the local market.

He said the company made a profit after tax of GHc28.66, which was below the GHc43.03 million recorded in 2014 and attributed the fall to huge claim payment made last year due to the June 3 disaster.

“The company’s profit was impacted by the over 100 percent in claims settlement of GHc80.90 million in 2015, compared to GHc39.42 million recorded in 2014. Notable contributory factors to the high claims figure included in the June 2015 flood and fire disasters,” he said.

Mr. Siale said the competition in the reinsurance industry calls for ingenuity and innovation and said management was pursuing innovative strategies and providing cutting-edge solutions to customers to enable the company to meet the competition in the industry.

The Board Chairman of Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited, Nana Ansah Sasraku III, in his remarks said the company recorded positive growth and maintained its prompt claim payment feat despite the difficult economic challenges recorded last year.

That, he said, “validates the company’s financial strength and with the expected additional capital, Ghana Re is poised to leverage on reforms in the local market and further expand its footprint in international markets.”

The company paid a dividend of GHc4 million to the government.