Kimmeridge Calls SilverBow ‘Worst-in-Class’ as Proxy Fight Heats

“The Board’s worst-in-class corporate governance that prioritizes itself and management over shareholder returns appears to have permeated throughout the entire organization in a cyclical, self-serving manner,” Kimmeridge wrote in a presentation Tuesday.

This is the latest in an increasingly bitter tit-for-tat dispute in advance of a shareholder vote later this month on the makeup of the board. Kimmeridge put forward three candidates after a failed attempt at combining its Texas natural gas assets with SilverBow in March.

SilverBow said in a letter to shareholders on Monday that Kimmeridge’s nominees are “self-interested and conflicted, with close ties to or history with Kimmeridge, and lack the blue-chip industry experience of SilverBow’s nominees.”

The driller’s first-quarter results provided “strong evidence to support its case that it does not need major board changes,” Tim Rezvan and Jonathan Mardini of KeyBanc Capital Markets wrote in a report on May 1.