Chesapeake Energy shareholders approve reverse stock split

By a more than 3-to-1 margin, shareholders of Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy approved a reverse stock split Monday during a virtual meeting and the vote was quickly endorsed by the company’s board of directors.
The vote was 1,107,281,401 in support of the financial move while 334,758,997 votes were against it and 15,53,278 abstentions were made.
The shareholders also okayed a share reduction plan by a vote of 1,113,475,016 in support, 317,569,849 against and 25,537,811 abstentions.
In a filing with the SEC, the company stated, “After receiving shareholder approval of the two proposals, Chesapeake’s Board of Directors approved the implementation of a Reverse Stock Split at a ratio of one-for-two-hundred (1:200), and the related Authorized Share Reduction from 3,000,000,000 to 22,500,000 shares of Chesapeake common stock.”
Of the 1,955,253,837 shares of Chesapeake common stock outstanding as of the record date for the Special Meeting, 1,457,582,676 shares (approximately 74.5%) were virtually present or represented by proxy at the Special Meeting.
A Certificate of Amendment to the Company’s Restated Certificate of Incorporation that gives effect to the reverse stock split and the authorized shares reduction has been filed with the Oklahoma Secretary of State and will become effective at 5:00 p.m. Central Time on April 14, 2020. The Company’s common stock will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the market open on April 15, 2020.
Once effective, the number of outstanding shares of common stock will be reduced from approximately 1.957 billion as of April 10, 2020 to approximately 9.784 million shares (without giving effect to the liquidation of fractional shares). The total number of shares of common stock that the Company is authorized to issue will also be reduced from 3,000,000,000 to 22,500,000 shares.