Lost in all the news and hoopla surrounding the fall of Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake Energy have been the struggles of fellow fracking giant SandRidge Energy.
The company is currently led by Chesapeake co-founder and former C.O.O. Tom Ward. Although SandRidge is much smaller than Chesapeake, Ward's new company is eerily similar to the one he co-founded with Aubrey McClendon in the 1980s. Both companies made their mark in natural gas, both have a very large presence in Oklahoma City, and both muddle their books with complicated accounting methods that Commander Data couldn't comprehend.
Unfortunately for SandRidge, that's not where the Chesapeake similarities end. Over the past few months, disgruntled shareholders and activist investors have accused Tom Ward of engaging in shady land deals. But don't worry. The SandRidge board of directors released a statement in late January letting us know that everything is fine.
Via Reuters:
SandRidge Energy Inc's board said Friday it had reviewed land deals involving entities controlled by Chief Executive Tom Ward and his family and found no sign of wrongdoing.
The company said in a statement its independent directors would consider requests from investors to hire outside investigators to look into the charges.
Hedge fund TPG-Axon, one of SandRidge's top investors, had alleged that WCT Resources, an Oklahoma company run by Ward's son Trent, had run ahead of the company to acquire land, later flipping that land to SandRidge or other oil and gas companies.
Another top shareholder, Mount Kellett Capital Management, joined TPG-Axon in urging the board to further investigate the land deals.
Here's some good news and bad news for SandRidge. The good news is that they may not have to request that investigation. The bad news is the pesky team of reporters at Reuters — the same ones who effectively brought down Lord McClendon at Chesapeake — did it for them.