UPDATE 4-Kimmeridge withdraws merger proposal for SilverBow

(Updates shares in paragraph 3 and SilverBow response in paragraph 7)

April 16 (Reuters) - Kimmeridge Energy Management said on Tuesday it has withdrawn its proposal to combine its gas-producing assets in South Texas with SilverBow Resources .

The activist investor, the top shareholder in SilverBow, said it will instead focus on appointing "new, independent, and experienced" members to the oil and gas producer's board.

Shares of SilverBow closed down 1.6% on Tuesday.

Kimmeridge, in its latest attempt to acquire the company over the last two years, had sent an offer on March 13 which proposed to combine assets along with an associated $500 million equity investment.

"Given SilverBow's lack of engagement, Kimmeridge sees no pathway towards a transaction... As a result, we are withdrawing the proposal and will be focused on providing solutions for SilverBow's broken governance," Kimmeridge said in a statement.

The combination with SilverBow, which operates on around 180,000 net acres in South Texas' shale basin, would have created a pure-play Eagle Ford shale operator with an estimated enterprise value of about $3.6 billion.

SilverBow declined to comment, when contacted by Reuters.

Along with Riposte Capital, SilverBow's second-largest shareholder, Kimmeridge has been pushing the U.S. energy firm to revamp its board or to explore a sale.

Riposte, in an emailed response to Reuters, said it continues to believe that a combination with Kimmeridge Texas Gas was in the best interest of all shareholders.

Kimmeridge proposed three nominees for Silverbow's board earlier this year, however, all of them were rejected by SilverBow citing their close ties or history with Kimmeridge.

(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shailesh Kuber)