VIPER ENERGY PARTNERS LP (NASDAQ:VNOM) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain OfficersItem 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On July 25, 2017, the Board of Directors of Viper Energy Partners GP LLC (the “Board”), the general partner (the “General Partner”) of Viper Energy Partners LP (the “Partnership”), approved certain changes to the cash and equity compensation of the Board’s non-employee directors as described in more detail below. This revised compensation program was approved effective as of July 1, 2017 (the “Effective Date”).
Cash Compensation
As of the Effective Date, the Board eliminated the fees payable to directors of the General Partner for each meeting of the Board or its committees attended in person or telephonically and increased the annual cash retainer for non-employee directors of the General Partner from $47,500 to $60,000. The Board left unchanged the annual retainers for the chairperson of each of the Board’s committees and each non-chair committee member, which are currently set at $15,000 for the chairperson and $10,000 for each other member of the audit committee and at $10,000 for the chairperson and $5,000 for each other member of each other committee. Consistent with prior practice, cash compensation is payable to non-employee directors of the General Partner in quarterly installments.
Equity Compensation
The Board also revised the annual equity compensation of the non-employee directors of the General Partner granted to them under the Partnership’s equity incentive plan, setting the value of such annual equity compensation, granted to non-employee directors in phantom units, at $100,000, based on the average closing price per common unit of the Partnership on The NASDAQ Global Select Market for the five trading days immediately preceding the date of grant. The annual grant of phantom units will be made to non-employee directors at the close of business on the first business day occurring on or immediately following July 10 of each year, except that the 2017 phantom unit grant was made on July 25, 2017, based on the average closing price per common unit of the Partnership for the five trading days immediately preceding the Effective Date. The Board also adjusted the vesting schedule for the annual equity grant from vesting in three substantially equal annual installments beginning on the date of grant to vesting in full on the first anniversary of the date of grant, subject to the continuous service requirement.
About VIPER ENERGY PARTNERS LP (NASDAQ:VNOM)
Viper Energy Partners LP is a limited partnership that owns, acquires and exploits oil and natural gas properties in North America. The Company’s business objective is to provide an attractive return to its unitholders by focusing on business results, maximizing distributions through organic growth and pursuing accretive growth opportunities through acquisitions of mineral, royalty, overriding royalty, net profits and similar interests from Diamondback Energy, Inc. and from third parties. Its segment is engaged in the acquisition of oil and natural gas properties. Its assets consist of mineral interests in oil and natural gas properties in the Permian Basin in West Texas, all of which are leased to working interest owners. The Permian Basin, which consists of approximately 85,000 square miles centered on Midland, Texas, has been the source of oil production. Its assets consisted of mineral interests underlying approximately 46,560 gross (17,060 net) acres in the Permian Basin.
