A Corner of the Sky
Growing up in the suburbs of Toronto, Robert Bose, president of Sintana Energy Inc. admits he always needed a little nudge when it came to the big decisions in life. As an economics major, who also took some art history, at Queens University in Kingston Ontario, Bose didn’t work as hard as he should have but took the time to expand his academic horizons. Those interests led him to Herstmonceux Castle (the original site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory built in 1675) in the heart of East Sussex (just south of London), his home-away-from-home for his semester abroad. Captivated by the art and architectural history and multicultural environs nearby on the continent, Bose was exposed to experiences and people that ultimately informed his leadership style.
After Queen’s, he spent 17 years in the Global Investment Banking Group at ScotiaBank initially in Toronto and then in New York where he re-located to in 2005 and where he ultimately ran the Power & Utilities Group globally. He left in 2014 to join a family office, Charlestown Capital Advisors, during a period of significant turmoil and turbulence in the global energy markets – crude oil prices having fallen from $140/barrel to $26. It was at this time that Charlestown Energy Partners, a private investment vehicle he continues to manage, was formed. Charlestown Energy was created to express, among other things, a view that there had been and was going to be, a significant deficit in exploration spending across the commodities complex, particularly in Oil and Gas, which would ultimately give rise to significant and lasting increases in prices.
BOOKS ON THE NIGHTSTAND
“King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV” by Philip Mansel
“My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante
“Migration” Lapham’s Quarterly for Summer 2022
“The Elephant in the Universe: Our Hundred-Year Search for Dark Matter” by Govert Schilling
Charlestown Energy became the cornerstone investor in Sintana in 2019. Attracted to the opportunity to gain exposure to very large potential outcomes with little, if any, further capital required from the company, Sintana provided a tremendous opportunity to express Charlestown Energy’s core investment thesis. He became president in the fall of 2021 in conjunction with the company’s recent investment in Namibia.
Bose says, “By far, [our] largest corporate challenge is getting the capital markets to durably reflect the value that we think exists in Sintana‘s portfolio. How do we get people to look at opportunity, see the opportunity, invest behind the opportunity and stay with it?” He continues, “Sintana does not need money; we’re a small company that is well-capitalized. It’s difficult to accumulate a material position, it’s difficult to trade.” Reconciling this with a desire to expand the shareholder base to include more institutional support and by extension, to create the reflection of value in our stock price he says, “…is a big challenge for us – we believe the extremely large value opportunity ahead of us provides the best ammunition to make our case.” he adds.
His focus since taking the helm, is to collapse what he calls the ‘value gap’. The company recently submitted its OTCQB application and is interested in attracting retail investors to balance its shareholder base. “Retail investors are a key part of our constituency,” he states. “They can be very powerful but they can also be fleeting – that’s a challenge. But they are a critical part of our strategy.”
Bose aspires to be a leader that is “clear and able to effectively communicate the opportunity at hand and drive it forward. I am given to consensus. Perhaps a result of my Canadian upbringing but ultimately, I strive to be a leader who can bring, motivate and compel everyone to the same viewpoint. I think I have a good ability to see the bigger picture while still focus on the details.”
A new first-time father this month, Bose is partial to a home life filled with athletics, music, books, art and travel. An admirer of pop-king Andy Warhol and other contemporary artists, he also gravitates toward 16th and 17th century Flemish and Italian Renaissance art. These hyper realist works create a sort of spiritual magic that embed the heart, the soul and the mind. Much like, the high drama, power and capital involved in fossil fuels and hydrocarbons today.
“Our industry,” he explains, “faces two opposing dynamics: a strong and understandable desire to work towards a decarbonized world, a reduction of greenhouse gases and advancing renewable energy. It’s both good for the planet and for its inhabitants. However, we are at an inflection point. Our desire for a greener world is being tempered by realities some of which are in our control and others, which are not…We need fossil fuels to facilitate an achievable and equitable transition. Recent events in global geopolitics as well as a recognition of the logistical challenges associated with a more electrified economy have extended the time horizon for the energy transition. Oil and Gas will continue to play a critical and major role in the global energy in our lives for another few decades”.