Gulfport Needs a Board that Understands How to
Create Shareholder Value from the Company’s Assets and
Opportunities
Firefly Value Partners, LP (together with its affiliates,
“Firefly”), which manages funds that, together with affiliates,
collectively beneficially own 13.1% of the outstanding common stock
of Gulfport Energy Corporation (“Gulfport” or the “Company”)
(Nasdaq: GPOR), today issued the following statement:
“We continue to believe that Gulfport’s intrinsic value is far
in excess of where Gulfport’s equity and debt trade today in the
capital markets. The Company has great assets and strong free cash
flow potential, and unlike many other industries in the current
economic landscape, the natural gas sector is in a position of
strength.
Nevertheless, markets have assigned Gulfport’s securities a
discounted valuation, with a share price that is down roughly 33%
this year, lagging its low-cost Appalachian peers.1 We believe that
a portion of this discount stems from shareholders’ lack of
confidence that the Board will make the right capital allocation
and strategy decisions to help generate strong returns from
Gulfport’s terrific assets and opportunities.
It is time for Gulfport to give its shareholders a chance to
have their voices heard. Gulfport should announce the date for its
2020 annual meeting of shareholders and should hold that meeting as
usual in June. Despite the unique challenges presented by COVID-19,
14 of the 16 public companies Gulfport names as peers in its 2019
proxy statement have already set their 2020 annual meeting dates.
It is well past time for Gulfport to do the same.
Gulfport has a great opportunity to create value for
shareholders as the sector is experiencing favorable trends. 2021
natural gas strip prices are $2.75/MMBtu, having increased more
than 15% since our March 19th letter. These prices, while
attractive for Gulfport given its cost base, are not high enough to
support drilling activity outside of the lowest-cost natural gas
plays. Not surprisingly, then, natural gas directed rig counts
continue to drop, down nearly 20% over the last month, and more
than 30% year-to-date. At the same time, oil directed rigs have
fallen more than 40% in the last month and year-to-date, creating
ever-improving natural gas supply fundamentals.
Given this backdrop, there is a tremendous opportunity for
Gulfport, led by a strong, shareholder-focused Board, to drive
value creation. While our preference has always been to resolve our
differences with the incumbent Board amicably, the Company has not
meaningfully engaged with us. It is now time for the Board to
either meaningfully engage or to give shareholders a chance to have
their voices heard and elect directors they believe will best
represent their interests.”
Information about Firefly and its two nominees for election to
Gulfport’s Board, Samantha Holroyd and Ryan Heslop, is available at
www.GulfportValue.com.
About Firefly Value Partners, LP
Founded in 2006, Firefly is an investment partnership focused on
fundamental primary research and business analysis. Firefly invests
with a long-term time horizon in a concentrated portfolio of deeply
undervalued companies.
CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PARTICIPANTS
Firefly Value Partners, LP and the other participants named
herein (collectively, “Firefly”) have filed a preliminary proxy
statement and an accompanying WHITE proxy card with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to be used to solicit votes for the
election of its slate of highly-qualified director nominees at the
2020 annual meeting of stockholders of Gulfport Energy Corporation,
a Delaware corporation (the “Company”).
FIREFLY STRONGLY ADVISES ALL STOCKHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ
THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS, INCLUDING A PROXY
CARD, AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT
INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY MATERIALS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON
THE SEC’S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE
PARTICIPANTS IN THIS PROXY SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE
PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE, WHEN AVAILABLE, UPON REQUEST.
REQUESTS FOR COPIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE PARTICIPANTS’ PROXY
SOLICITOR.
The participants in the proxy solicitation are anticipated to be
FVP Master Fund, L.P. (“FVP Master Fund”), Firefly Value Partners,
LP (“Firefly Value Partners”), FVP GP, LLC (“FVP GP”), Firefly
Management Company GP, LLC (“Firefly Management”), Ariel
Warszawski, Ryan Heslop and Samantha Holroyd.
As of the date hereof, FVP Master Fund beneficially owns
20,906,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share (the
“Common Stock”), of the Company. Firefly Value Partners, as the
investment manager of FVP Master Fund, may be deemed the beneficial
owner of the 20,906,000 shares of Common Stock owned by FVP Master
Fund. FVP GP, as the general partner of FVP Master Fund, may be
deemed the beneficial owner of the 20,906,000 shares of Common
Stock owned by FVP Master Fund. Firefly Management, as the general
partner of Firefly Value Partners, may be deemed the beneficial
owner of the 20,906,000 shares of Common Stock owned by FVP Master
Fund. Each of Messrs. Heslop and Warszawski, as a Managing Member
of each of FVP GP and Firefly Management, may be deemed the
beneficial owner of the 20,906,000 shares of Common Stock owned by
FVP Master Fund. As of the date hereof, Ms. Holroyd beneficially
owns 20,500 shares of Common Stock.
_______________________________ 1 Appalachian peers from the
2019 Proxy peer group include CNX, EQT, Range Resources, Cabot,
Antero Resources, and Southwestern Energy.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200429005411/en/
Investors: John Ferguson / Joe Mills Saratoga Proxy
Consulting LLC 212-257-1311 jferguson@saratogaproxy.com /
jmills@saratogaproxy.com Media: Dan Zacchei / Joe Germani Sloane & Company dzacchei@sloanepr.com / jgermani@sloanepr.com
Gulfport Energy (NASDAQ:GPOR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Gulfport Energy (NASDAQ:GPOR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024