At SICP, James and Jonas co-manage the company’s investment strategy, origination, research and operational management. Over the years, James has attained a wealth of experience in the sector, previously managing an equity portfolio of primarily energy investments for Tudor Capital for over a decade and being responsible for energy-related special situation investments including private debt and equity transactions. Jonas’ background is broader, including many years as an active equity investor in the energy and industrial sectors for Audley Capital and Electra Partners, followed by board level finance roles at several oil service companies, where he worked closely with SICP’s Chairman Eivind Reiten, a former Norwegian Energy Minister.

On the philosophy behind SICP, Mills firmly believes that their name ‘Strategic Industrial Capital Partners’ encapsulates everything they are about. “At our company, we strongly believe that strategic energy analysis must be global and cross-industry, combining the best of both industrial and financial market approaches to valuation. Furthermore, our research approach is not limited to an individual geography or sub sector, or favouring hydrocarbon technologies over alternative energies.

“In this industry, we think the hydrocarbon, utility and renewable energy industries are becoming increasingly interlinked, particularly as new disruptive technologies emerge to provide supply side shocks across what are traditionally slow moving and conservative sectors. As a result, we manage our investments on a deal by deal basis, which gives our investor partners greater flexibility, visibility and understanding around how their capital is being deployed.” As for the ‘Industrial’ aspect of their business, Jonhede believes that their industrial approach is what separates them from their competitors. “We are differentiated through our industrial approach to the energy sector,” he says. “Our investment analysis is informed by industrial intelligence and valuation metrics as well as primary research and financial analysis. This integrated approach derives from both an extensive investment track record and our hands-on industrial experience which includes Chairman, CEO and CFO functions.”

With regards to ‘Capital’, SICP’s strategy is to provide growth capital with the objective of generating sustainable long term returns. “In practice, SICP works collaboratively with management teams and other shareholders to ensure that our investment roadmap is aligned with all parties. Our growth capital allows companies to unlock their potential through strategic and operational initiatives, such as commercial and project development, accelerated research and development and bolt on acquisitions. SICP adds further value to its portfolio of investments through active participation at the Board level and ongoing corporate advice”, which Jonhede believes is borne out in his interactions for example as a Board member at one of SICP’s early investments, Magma Global in the UK.

Lastly, but certainly not least, fundamental to SICP’s ethos is to maintain long term partnerships with their clients, or as what Mills likes to call “Investor Partners”. “SICP applies this same long term and integrated investment philosophy to its investor base, which is why we refer to our clients as Investor Partners,” says Mills. “We develop long term relationships with established, reputable global investors who are seeking an investment adviser and partner in the energy sector. These include multi and single family offices, sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors. We work closely with them to understand their interest in the energy sector, providing advice and opportunities accordingly.

“As part of a family office, SICP is acutely aware of the needs of long term investors,” added Mills. “We target the highest quality but most cost effective investment platform for our investor partners and use the experience of our network of industrial advisers and corporate relationships to source deals on a flexible and opportunistic basis as market conditions change. We also place a great deal of emphasis on providing forward thinking thematic research to our investor partners to help guide them not only in the transactions they work on with us, but as importantly their broader exposures to the energy industry. “

Alongside our emphasis on building relationships with our clients, SICP works hard to foster a partnership culture with its employees too, where respect, collaboration, consistency, discipline, and flexibility are the key hallmarks of our approach inside and outside the firm.”

As a company that is constantly in close contact with both investors and management teams, the Managing Partners are adamant that people are the backbone of the entire business. “People are key to our success”, they state, “whether it’s the SICP team itself, which contains a broad range of experience across the financial, management and engineering sides of the energy industry, to the collaboration with some of the best individuals we have worked with over 20 years in the industry such as our lawyers at Paul Hastings and our auditors KPMG. This team then extends into our portfolio companies’ management, who are the day-to-day guardians of our investor partners’ capital. Working with management teams we respect and trust is crucial to delivering the returns our investor partner’s demand.”

Working in a constantly evolving industry, SICP always strives to be aware of any emerging developments or trends in their sector. At the moment, Mills believes that the global energy investment environment has entered an extremely dynamic phase, with a combination of commodity pricing dislocations and new supply side technology developments providing exciting investment opportunities at the sub sector and corporate investment level.

“These supply side shocks include; the shale oil revolution in the US, development of a global spot priced LNG market, rapid growth of solar power generation, and developments in battery storage and distributed generation technologies. This necessitates a supply side investment framework rather than the more demand side focused analytical frameworks of the broader financial markets. SICP’s thematic research divides this framework into near term trends where we are actively originating transactions that will benefit from these growth and return opportunities and longer term trends that encompass the most important broader energy issues investors in the industry are facing.”

By combining this research based sector focus with a flexible deal by deal approach, Mills and Jonhede believe they offer a more specialised and bespoke asset management relationship to their Investor partners whilst also helping enhance their broader investment exposures to the energy sector. 

Company: Strategic Industrial Capital Partners (SICP LLP)

Name: James Mills
Email: James@sicpllp.com
Name: Jonas Jonhede
Email: Jonas@sicpllp.com
Web Address: www.sicpllp.com
Address: 7 Old Park Lane
Telephone: 0207 255 7740