Compromise Rejected as Icahn Adds Nominees for SandRidge Board

(Bloomberg) -- Activist investor Carl Icahn announced two more nominees for SandRidge Energy Inc.’s board of directors, signaling he’s not interested in a proposed settlement of his fight to take control of the oil and gas explorer.

In a regulatory filing Friday, Icahn increased his slate of candidates to seven and said it was in SandRidge’s “best interests" for shareholders to elect all of them to replace the current directors at the Oklahoma City company. That followed SandRidge’s announcement earlier this week that it was expanding the five-member board in an attempt to make room for two Icahn representatives.

The new nominees include Jonathan Christodoro, a private investor who once served as managing director for Icahn Capital LP, and Nancy Dunlap, who runs the private family office of former New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine, according to the filing.

Icahn last month nominated five replacements for the board, after months of criticizing management and helping to scuttle its proposed acquisition of Bonanza Creek Energy Inc. SandRidge has seen its market value plunge from $11 billion before a 2016 bankruptcy to about $500 million today. It’s said it’s conducting a review of its options, including a potential sale to Icahn or another party.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Nussbaum in New York at anussbaum1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net, Joe Carroll

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.