Chesapeake Energy Corp. will name an independent chairman toreplace Aubrey McClendon and halt an incentive program that allowedthe chief executive officer to amass personal stakes in thousandsof company-operated wells.

McClendon agreed to a board request to terminate the so-calledFounder Well Participation Program in June 2014, 18 months early,without additional compensation, according to a release today.McClendon will not be relinquishing any of the well stakes healready holds, Michael Kehs, a Chesapeake spokesman, said today inan e-mailed statement.

McClendon, the only chairman the company has had since heco-founded it in 1989, was criticized by investors and analystsafter news reports last month detailed his use of interests incompany wells to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in personalloans. Chesapeake shares soared as much as 12 percent, the mostsince December 2008.

“It's positive that the board is creating some independencebetween the CEO and the chairmanship,” Scott Hanold, an analyst atRBC Capital Markets LLC in Minneapolis, said today in a telephoneinterview. “Aubrey McClendon has been the face of Chesapeake and isdefinitely the one who built the asset base they have, so havinghim continue to be part of the company is strategically the rightdecision.”

Southeastern Asset Management, Chesapeake's biggest shareholderwith a 17 percent stake as of Dec. 31, pushed for the separation ofthe chairman and CEO roles.

'Last Hurrah'

“We are pleased that the board listened to our input and believeit has made the right decision by ending the FWPP early and seekingan independent chairman,” O. Mason Hawkins, Southeastern's chairmanand CEO, said in the statement.

Allowing the well-investment program to continue through themiddle of 2014 will enable McClendon to buy stakes in the UticaShale in Ohio, an oil-soaked geologic formation that Chesapeakerecently began exploring, said Mark Hanson, an analyst atMorningstar Inc. in Chicago.

“If they terminated the program right now, he probably wouldn'tbe able to cover his outstanding loans,” Hanson said today in atelephone interview. “This is one last hurrah so he can be madewhole before they end the program.”

McClendon said last week that he had $846 million in outstandingpersonal loans obtained to fund his share of drilling costs. Underthe program, he has been allowed to buy as much as 2.5 percent inalmost every well the company drills.

Chesapeake said yesterday that the Internal Revenue Service isreviewing the well-investment program as part of ongoing audits ofthe company's 2008 and 2009 tax returns. The Oklahoma City-basedcompany is scheduled to announce first-quarter results today.

Chesapeake rose 6.4 percent to $19.62 at 9:58 a.m. in NewYork.

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