The battle over the Hess Corporation‘s board has become a tiny war of words.
Elliott Management on Wednesday criticized a letter sent by the oil producer’s chief executive, John B. Hess, to another dissident investor, arguing that the communiqué showed that the company and its management were out of touch.
“The letter relays the attitude of a C.E.O. that has never been held accountable,†Elliott said in its statement.
For those trying to follow along, the sequence of events has been this: Relational Investors, an activist hedge fund, wrote a letter to Hess’ board on Tuesday reiterating its support for Elliott’s efforts. Mr. Hess replied, asking Relational to urge its fellow shareholder to drop its campaign.
That fight doesn€™t look likely to end anytime soon. In its response on Wednesday, Elliott argued that Mr. Hess was trying to use “scare tactics†by suggesting that the hedge fund’s plan to break up the company into domestic and international oil producers amounted to a liquidation.
Elliott also criticized the slate of six new directors that Hess has nominated, arguing that only two have experience running exploration and production businesses, and none have experience in working with unconventional drilling areas, like the Bakken shale formation that is the company’s most promising domestic asset.
The hedge fund also noted that while Hess said that it had begun looking for new directors last August, it was then that it named Samuel Nunn, a former United States senator from Georgia with no oil industry experience, to its board.
