TPG-Axon, which holds a 4.5 percent stake in SandRidge, charged in a Nov. 8 letter to SandRidge’s board that the company had engaged in reckless spending and that shareholders had experienced a 76-percent decline in stock price.
TPG-Axon requested that the company be sold, Tom Ward replaced as CEO and board members replaced with individuals more accountable to shareholders.
SandRidge quickly responded:
“While our perspectives on various points made in the letter from TPG- Axon differ in many instances, we agree that SandRidge has valuable assets and that we need to focus on improving performance for shareholders.”
But investor unrest grew Nov. 15 when another major SandRidge shareholder, Mount Kellett Capital Management, called for Ward’s resignation.
Investment in the company reportedly has been flagged as high-risk for more than a year. In addition, Ward enjoys many of the perks that Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon — Ward’s onetime partner at Chesapeake — did, such as a program similar to CHK’s Founders Well Participation Program, which McClendon used to leverage $1.1 billion in unreported personal loans.
Well, at least those TV ads are sorta uplifting, even if their stock performance maybe isn’t.
