Amwins acquires NARDAC to build $1B+ energy and infrastructure insurance practice
What's the deal? Amwins, a global specialty insurance distributor, has completed its acquisition of NARDAC, a specialist energy and infrastructure broker. The deal, announced on May 4, sees NARDAC fully absorbed into Amwins after an initial investment in 2020. Amwins has now purchased NARDAC's remaining privately held shares.
NARDAC's wholesale, reinsurance, and underwriting services will merge into Amwins' existing energy practice, which will rebrand as the Energy, Power and Infrastructure practice. The combined unit places more than $1 billion in annual premium.
The practice will be co-led by Ben Abernathy, Rob Battenfield, and Jatin Sharma, operating across the US and from Amwins Global Risks' London office.
Why now? The energy and infrastructure insurance market is shifting fast. Power generation, storage, transmission, and AI infrastructure are becoming increasingly interconnected — creating complex, converged risks that demand specialist expertise.
"Molecules and electrons now shape converged risks across the energy transition and the digital transformation of global economies," said Jatin Sharma, executive vice president at Amwins Brokerage. The rise of renewables, battery storage, and data centre buildouts has created demand for tailored coverage that traditional structures struggle to address.
NARDAC's specialty programmes — covering community solar, battery energy storage systems, and severe convective storm risk — give the combined practice tools purpose-built for this evolving landscape.
What could go wrong? Integrating specialist teams always carries execution risk. Merging NARDAC's entrepreneurial culture into a large distributor like Amwins could slow decision-making or dilute the niche expertise that made NARDAC attractive in the first place.
The energy transition itself is volatile. Policy shifts, fluctuating renewables investment, and evolving climate risk models could all reshape the demand for these products in unpredictable ways.
The signal: This deal reflects a broader trend: insurance distributors are consolidating specialist capabilities to serve the rapidly growing — and increasingly complex — energy infrastructure market. As AI-driven power demand surges and renewable assets proliferate, insurers need platforms that can underwrite risks spanning traditional hydrocarbons, battery storage, solar farms, and data centres under one roof.
Amwins is betting that a single, integrated practice covering the full energy and infrastructure spectrum will be a competitive advantage. It's a sign that the insurance industry sees energy transition not as a niche but as a defining market of the next decade.
Read more: amwins.com
