GA Insurance faces dusitD2 payout claims

Kenyan insurer GA Insurance faces a hefty compensation claim from Nairobi’s 14 Riverside dusitD2 business complex, following the recent terror attacks on the establishment.

GA says it has initiated talks with the 14 Riverside complex management over the potential payout. Kenya Reinsurance Corporation (Kenya Re) #ticker:KNRE earlier said it would make payouts to two underwriters.

“We are the unnamed insurer,” Joseph Mutinda, marketing and communications executive at GA, confirmed without providing additional details on the liability and the insured value.

The insurer said it had already kicked off talks with the dusitD2 team over the value of the payout.

Kenya Re said it had started talks with the unnamed insurers but the losses were yet to be assessed.

“It is too early for quantification of losses,” said chief executive Jadiah Mwarania. “We have gotten notification from only two insurers.”

The attack on the complex linked to Al-Shabaab militants claimed the lives of 21 people while dozens of others were injured.

Some businesses have since resumed operations in the six buildings that housed about 40 local and international companies.

According to the Riverside management, some of the businesses that have resumed operations include Gen Africa, Red House Group, Vitality Clinic, Regus, Qatar Airways and I&M Bank.

Others are Dusit Restaurant, Pernod Ricard, Commission on Revenue Allocation, SAP, Safari Trails, LJA and AC Nielsen.

The affected Riverside address hosts hospitality, media, retail and other businesses, including the high-end dusitD2 Hotel where international conferences are held.

Previously, Mayfair Insurance paid a total of Sh1.01 billion to Nakumatt Supermarkets, now under administration, for losses suffered at one of its branches following a terror attack on the Westgate Mall in September 2013.

Former Nakumatt managing director Atul Shah then said the retailer’s losses were in excess of Sh2 billion during the attack that razed its hypermarket at the mall. The attack cost another insurer, ATI, Sh128.5 million ($1.5 million) arising from three claims.