Paratus Appoints New Strategy and Risk Chiefs to Scale Energy Price Insurance Growth

Paratus is scaling its leadership team as it nears a $100 million gross written premium milestone, signaling a strategic shift from pure energy price risk insurance toward asset-backed optimisation. For insurance professionals, this move highlights the growing convergence between risk transfer and active energy market participation within the industrial manufacturing and renewables sectors.

What was announced

Paratus has announced the appointments of Alastair Vere Nicoll as Chief Strategy Officer and Stuart Dee as Chief Risk Officer. These senior hires arrive during a period of significant commercial momentum for the London-based firm. Since securing its license and writing its first renewables insurance policy in January 2025, the company has reported that it is on track to generate $100 million in gross written premiums and fees by the end of 2026.

The firm is currently expanding its service offering beyond its core energy price risk insurance products to include asset-backed optimisation. This expansion is specifically designed to support energy-intensive sectors, such as industrial manufacturing, in managing the financial impact of price volatility. By integrating insurance with asset optimisation, the company aims to help clients unlock value from their energy assets while maintaining protection against market fluctuations.

Alastair Vere Nicoll joins Paratus with a background in private equity and renewable energy development. He was the founder of Berkeley Energy, a firm focused on the development and operation of renewable energy assets in emerging markets, and previously served as a private equity lawyer at Freshfields. Stuart Dee brings deep expertise in global commodities and risk management to the role of Chief Risk Officer. He previously served as the Chief Risk Officer for BP’s Supply, Trading & Shipping business and as Chief Financial Officer for Centrica Energy, following senior roles at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan.

"We have ambitious plans for Paratus as we build on our established energy price risk insurance offering and expand into new areas. With energy price volatility continuing to present significant challenges for businesses, we see a growing opportunity to help clients manage their exposure and unlock greater value from their energy assets."

Gus Majed, Founder and CEO of Paratus

The companies involved

Paratus is a specialist provider of energy price risk insurance and asset-backed optimisation. The firm focuses on protecting businesses against the financial impact of energy price volatility, a risk that has become increasingly acute as global markets navigate the energy transition. By combining deep energy market expertise with traditional insurance structures, the company targets energy-intensive industries and renewable energy producers who require price certainty to support investment decisions and project economics.

Also operating within the broader industrial and energy transition ecosystem is Ara Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in industrial decarbonization. Ara Partners invests in companies and infrastructure that facilitate the transition to a lower-carbon economy, often operating in the same industrial manufacturing and energy sectors that Paratus serves. The growth of specialist entities like Paratus reflects a broader market trend where financial risk management and energy infrastructure operations are becoming inextricably linked. Since its entry into the renewables insurance market in early 2025, Paratus has positioned itself as a bridge between the technical complexities of energy trading and the balance-sheet protection required by industrial corporates.

What this means from an insurtech perspective

The expansion of Paratus into asset-backed optimisation represents a sophisticated evolution of the specialist carrier model. By moving closer to the underlying physical and financial assets, Paratus is shifting the insurance value chain from reactive claims payment to proactive risk and value management. This approach puts pressure on traditional energy underwriters who may rely on historical data rather than real-time market optimisation. For brokers and reinsurers, this highlights a growing demand for products that address price volatility rather than just physical damage. The challenge for the sector remains the complexity of modeling these risks in a volatile, transitioning energy market where legacy core systems often lack the flexibility to handle such dynamic, market-linked pricing structures.