Shell sells 30% stake in OML 24

LEAPFROG Investments, a private equity firm backed by George Soros and JP Morgan, has bought a majority stake in Kenyan insurer Resolution in a deal valued at 1.68 billion shillings (R202 million), both firms said yesterday. Resolution is a general insurer with operations in Kenya and Tanzania, and a partnership in Uganda. Leapfrog, which focuses on Africa and Asia, sold its stake in Kenya’s Apollo to Swiss Re last month. There has been a flurry of deals in the Kenyan industry as firms race to get a bigger share of a sector posting double-digit annual growth rates. – Reuters ROYAL Dutch Shell had completed the sale of its 30 percent stake in Nigeria’s onshore Oil Mining Lease 24 (OML 24) in the eastern Niger Delta to Newcross Exploration and Production for $600 million (R6.6bn), it said yesterday. French partner Total and Italy’s Eni also sold their respective 10 percent and 5 percent stakes in OML 24 to Newcross, Shell said in a statement. OML 24 produced on average about 13 000 barrels of oil equivalent a day during the first half of this year, the Anglo-Dutch oil major said in a statement. – Reuters