Carl Icahn Won't Bid for SandRidge After Winning Control of Board

(Bloomberg) -- Activist investor Carl Icahn won’t make a bid to buy oil and gas explorer SandRidge Energy Inc., the company said in a regulatory filing Monday.

The billionaire New Yorker told SandRidge last week that he wouldn’t submit an offer, just days after winning a proxy fight to replace most of the board at the Oklahoma business, according to the filing. Icahn instead signed a confidentiality agreement giving his representatives board observer rights, the company said.

SandRidge said earlier this month that it’s been in contact with 17 potential bidders for its assets, which include drilling rights on more than a half-million acres in Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. Icahn won control of five of eight board seats last week, after arguing the company’s directors couldn’t be trusted to get the best for shareholders.

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