It appears that Carl Icahn has helped to shuffle the board of another company. Yesterday, it was revealed that Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon has agreed to retire on April 1.
However, it is not clear whether Icahn used his activist tactics to remove the beleaguered executive.
Icahn in a statement released yesterday, expressed some flattering words for the outgoing CEO.
“Aubrey has every right to be proud of the company he has built, the world class team of people at Chesapeake and the collection of assets he has assembled, which in my opinion, are the best portfolio of energy assets in the country. While it is known that some of these assets will be sold by the company in due course, I do not believe that this will in any way effect the ultimate realization of Chesapeake’s potential.
“I am confident that history will prove that Aubrey has been correct about the value of natural gas in general and the value of Chesapeake in particular.”
McClendon was previously the subject of an SEC investigation of a personal loan given by the Chesapeake board.
Under the controversial plan McClendon was allowed to buy a stake of each of the wells that Chesapeake drills with money from a billion-dollar loan McClendon received from the company. In the program, called the Founder Well Participation Program, McClendon was allowed to buy a 2.5% stake in each of the company’s thousands of wells.
As of Nov. 19, 2012, Icahn Associates owned 59,698,689 shares, or an 8.98% stake in Chesapeake, according to 13F data.
The stock is up more than 6% on the news of the CEO's departure.
However, it is not clear whether Icahn used his activist tactics to remove the beleaguered executive.
Icahn in a statement released yesterday, expressed some flattering words for the outgoing CEO.
“Aubrey has every right to be proud of the company he has built, the world class team of people at Chesapeake and the collection of assets he has assembled, which in my opinion, are the best portfolio of energy assets in the country. While it is known that some of these assets will be sold by the company in due course, I do not believe that this will in any way effect the ultimate realization of Chesapeake’s potential.
“I am confident that history will prove that Aubrey has been correct about the value of natural gas in general and the value of Chesapeake in particular.”
McClendon was previously the subject of an SEC investigation of a personal loan given by the Chesapeake board.
Under the controversial plan McClendon was allowed to buy a stake of each of the wells that Chesapeake drills with money from a billion-dollar loan McClendon received from the company. In the program, called the Founder Well Participation Program, McClendon was allowed to buy a 2.5% stake in each of the company’s thousands of wells.
As of Nov. 19, 2012, Icahn Associates owned 59,698,689 shares, or an 8.98% stake in Chesapeake, according to 13F data.
The stock is up more than 6% on the news of the CEO's departure.
