Icahn nominates directors to board
Energy Editor awilmoth@oklahoman.com
Activist investor Carl Icahn on Monday nominated five directors for SandRidge Energy Inc., furthering his ongoing proxy fight with the Oklahoma City-based energy company.
In a regulatory filing Monday morning, Icahn said he has nominated Jonathan Frates, Nicholas Graziano, John J. “Jack” Lipinski, Bob G. Alexander and Randolph C. Read.
The nominees all have connections to Icahn and his companies, and several have connections with Oklahoma energy firms.
Alexander founded Alexander Energy Corp. and was the company’s chairman and CEO until its 1996 sale to National Energy Group. He was chairman and CEO of National Energy Group until it was sold to SandRidge in 2006.
Alexander became a director at Chesapeake Energy Corp. in June 2012 following an Icahnled shareholder revolt. Alexander was a Chesapeake director until June 2014, when the company spun off its oil-field services division into Seventy Seven Energy Inc. Alexander was a Seventy Seven Energy director until the company was bought by Houstonbased Patterson-UTI in 2017.
Alexander also is a director at Icahn-owned CVR Energy Inc., which owns the oil refinery in Wynnewood. Alexander received a geological engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma.
Lipinski was CEO of CVR Energy until 2017.He also was an Icahn-backed director at Chesapeake from 2012 to 2016.
Frates is a director at CVR Energy.
Icahn’s announcement Monday comes after he said earlier this month said he would nominate his own slate of directors because he had “grave concerns” about the process the current board has begun to solicit and evaluate options including joint ventures, asset sales and the sale of the company.
In the April 5 filing, Icahn said the current SandRidge directors “have a history of making poor decisions on behalf of stockholders” and that any offer evaluation under their oversights “is likely to be value destructive.”
Icahn has said that if his directors are elected, he would consider making an offer to buy SandRidge.
SandRidge directors last week responded to Icahn’s threats, saying they welcome all shareholder input, but that Icahn so far has rejected their offers to participate in a fair bidding process.
“SandRidge welcomes shareholder input and will review all qualified candidates for nomination to the board of directors,” the company said in an April 9 statement.
“SandRidge has specifically offered Icahn Capital, on more than one occasion, the opportunity to submit qualified, independent candidates for the board’s consideration. None have been put forth. To the extent Icahn Capital nominates any candidates for election at the annual meeting, the nominating and corporate governance committee will thoroughly review those candidates and make a recommendation to the shareholders.”
SandRidge shares slipped 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, Monday to close at $14.60 on the New York Stock Exchange.