13D Filing: Icahn Capital LP and Sandridge Energy Inc (SD)

SCHEDULE 13D

Item 1. Security and Issuer

The Schedule 13D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 22, 2017 (the “Schedule 13D”) by High River Limited Partnership, Hopper Investments LLC, Barberry Corp., Icahn Partners Master Fund LP, Icahn Offshore LP, Icahn Partners LP, Icahn Onshore LP, Icahn Capital LP, IPH GP LLC, Icahn Enterprises Holdings L.P., Icahn Enterprises G.P. Inc., Beckton Corp. and Carl C. Icahn (collectively, the “Reporting Persons”), with respect to the shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Shares”), of Sandridge Energy, Inc. (the “Issuer”), is hereby amended to furnish the additional information set forth herein.  All capitalized terms contained herein but not otherwise defined shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Schedule 13D.

On November 30, 2017, the Reporting Persons delivered a letter to the Issuer’s board of directors, which states, among other things, that “you adopted a poison pill that is a complete travesty and represents a new low in corporate governance” and “it is clearly designed to prevent large shareholders from campaigning against the Bonanza transaction. Even more egregious is the fact that, while forcing large shareholders to remain silent and not allowing them to communicate with other shareholders, the pill explicitly allows the board and management to communicate with shareholders to attempt to persuade them of the merits of the transaction! Such actions would make a totalitarian dictator blush, yet you take them with a straight face and misrepresent the intentions of the pill by describing it as a “shareholder rights plan.” We are not aware of a more insulting euphemism.”

The letter also states: “First you promised shareholders that they would have the right to vote on whether they wanted to be diluted by the insane Bonanza acquisition. Now you have decided in your infinite wisdom that only you should be allowed to communicate with shareholders regarding the transaction. If large shareholders attempt to communicate with one another to oppose the transaction, they risk triggering the pill and suffering dilution infinitely worse than that promised by the Bonanza transaction.”

The letter further states: “I have spent decades pioneering and refining the craft of what has come to be known as shareholder activism and my involvement with companies has resulted in the creation of close to a trillion dollars of value for shareholders. I have taken on companies such as Phillips Petroleum, U.S. Steel, Texaco, RJR Nabisco, Time Warner, Apple, eBay and many, many others, and have fought the good fight against some of the most powerful and politically connected lawyers, investment bankers, public relations personnel and lobbyists in the business, who were enlisted to guard the palace gates. In all that time, I have never seen transgressions against shareholder rights as bad as those the SandRidge board is now perpetrating. Your apparent disregard for any semblance of accountability to the owners of SandRidge reminds me of the medieval belief in the divine right of kings. Your approval of the Bonanza transaction and subsequent adoption of the dissent-stifling pill is a blatant insult to shareholders – especially considering James Bennett’s history with SandRidge during a period of massive value destruction, including an ill-advised acquisition binge, a bankruptcy filing, Bennett presiding over a $90 million payout to the former CEO, and taking over $50 million in compensation for himself, all while the shareholders suffered. I fear that Bennett and the board are now trying to do it again.”

A full copy of the letter is filed herewith as an exhibit and incorporated herein by reference.

1	Letter from the Reporting Persons to the Board of Directors of the Issuer, dated November 30, 2017.