New York hedge-fund investor Daniel Loeb is angling for a seat on the board of Denver-based energy firm Western Gas Resources Inc.
Loeb, notorious for his scathing public letters to company executives with whom he is not pleased, issued a comparatively gentle letter this week with suggestions for Western Gas Resources chief executive Peter Dea.
In addition to the request for a board seat, Loeb and his Third Point LLC fund said Western Gas should use debt to buy back $300 million to $500 million of its outstanding shares, which Loeb said are “extraordinarily undervalued.”
The letter was part of a regulatory filing in which Third Point disclosed that it now owns 8.6 percent of Western Gas stock, making it the firm’s largest shareholder.
Western Gas officials said the request for a board seat will be forwarded to the company’s nominating committee, and the share buyback proposal will be considered by the board.
Loeb also renewed his request for Western Gas to sell its natural-gas gathering and processing unit to focus on gas production – a move the company has resisted because the gathering and processing unit operates profitably.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
