THE WOODLANDS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AEGIS Hedging Solutions (“AEGIS” or the “Company”), a leader in technology and expertise for commodity and environmental markets, was recognized as the 2022 Hedging Advisory Firm of the Year at Energy Risk USA. This marks the sixth consecutive year AEGIS has been recognized for this honor. The Energy Risk Awards recognize best practice and innovation in risk management throughout the commodities complex and highlight the firms that are pushing forward to shape the energy and commodity markets.
The past 18 months have offered unprecedented commodity price and environmental credit volatility for AEGIS’ 300+ customers. “The Energy Risk judges were extremely impressed with AEGIS’ commitment to serving customers during these unprecedented times and the investments that the company continues to make in its technology stack,” said Stella Farrington, Head of Content, Energy Risk.
“Our customers understand the importance of accessing deep expertise and leading technology to understand exposures and take action when markets are volatile,” comments Bryan Sansbury, AEGIS CEO. “We want to thank our customers for their continued partnership, Energy Risk Magazine for recognizing our continuing advancements in the industry, and our colleagues for hustling and daring to do things that others won’t.”
Applying new technology to commodities risk management is a huge part of AEGIS’ strategy. “Our goal is to modernize every element required to run a world-class hedging program,” says Chris Payne, Chief Product Officer. “The AEGIS platform enables customers to make confident hedging decisions and take action in real-time.”
In early 2021, AEGIS acquired Instanext, a leading commodity trading and risk management (“CTRM”) platform, giving AEGIS full ownership of and integration across its analytics, trading, and workflow automation platform. The platform provides full-cycle hedge management across energy, agricultural, metals, and interest rate markets.
“The AEGIS platform is unique in the market and would require a multitude of different systems, custom development, and systems integration investment to attempt to replicate at scale,” says Payne.
Later in 2021, AEGIS entered the carbon offset market through its acquisition of Emissions Advisors. With the acquisition, AEGIS now offers integrated commodity hedging and environmental offset services through its platform.
“We see our customers becoming increasingly good stewards of the environment and leveraging carbon offset markets to reduce their emission footprints,” said Sansbury. “Like the swaps market, carbon markets can be complex and opaque. Our acquisition of Emission Advisors allows us to guide customers as they work to meet compliance obligations and execute voluntary offset efforts.”
As an example, AEGIS developed an innovative solution in the California cap and trade market that resulted in oil and gas firms saving tens of millions of dollars at a time when many of them were in survival mode post-COVID-19. Credit was challenging and most could not make forward purchases. Undeterred, AEGIS proposed a forward prepay structure that allowed favorable pricing without collateral or margining.
“AEGIS was able to bring trading firms to the table that were comfortable offering a forward structure thanks to our long-term relationship and deep customer list,” said Mike Taylor, Director of Emissions Trading at AEGIS. “As a result, AEGIS locked in 12 to 18 months forward structures for customers at 25% below the auction floor price - with future delivery.”
As carbon prices rallied aggressively from a low of $11.00 in 2020 to $31.66 by November 2021, AEGIS customers collectively saved over $20 million in compliance costs for the Phase III compliance period due in November 2021.
Looking ahead, the roadmap is full for AEGIS. AEGIS is launching a technology-enabled marketplace for bilateral hedge execution and is progressing toward launching the industry’s first Swap Execution Facility upon approval by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In addition, AEGIS will introduce AI-driven hedge recommendations, online trade approvals, APIs to enable downstream system integrations, additional workflow automation, and the first phase of its carbon offset marketplace in 2022.
“We have big plans to expand our lead in 2022,” added Payne.
About AEGIS
AEGIS simplifies commodity and environmental markets for companies serious about managing their commodity exposures and/or emission footprints. AEGIS has unmatched technology and expertise to deliver market insights, tailored hedge strategies, efficient trade execution, and full-cycle management of hedge positions – all designed for regulatory compliance. Building on its core energy hedging capabilities, AEGIS has recently completed four acquisitions to extend its expertise in environmental and metals markets, increase its analytics capabilities and fully integrate a SaaS E/CTRM software platform. AEGIS was recently named the industry leader in hedging solutions for an unprecedented sixth consecutive year. AEGIS is headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas. To learn more, visit AEGIS’ website at www.aegis-hedging.com.
