Energy Transfer Equity Makes Offer To Merger With Williams In $53.1 Bln Deal

(RTTNews) - Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (ETE) confirmed that it has made a proposal to merge with energy infrastructure company Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB) in an all-equity transaction valued at $53.1 billion, including the assumption of debt and other liabilities.

Energy Transfer Equity or ETE said it initially made its offer in a letter dated May 19, 2015, to Alan Armstrong, the CEO of Williams, followed by a letter dated June 11, 2015 sent to the Williams Chairman of the Board, and most recently confirmed its offer in a letter dated June 18, 2015 sent to the Williams board of directors.

Under its merger proposal, ETE would acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Williams for $64 per Williams share, representing a 32.4 percent premium to the Williams common share closing price as of June 19, 2015. Williams stockholders would receive shares issued by new ETE C-corp.

ETE said it believes that a merger with Williams and adding Williams Partners L.P (WPZ) to its family of partnerships would create significantly more value to the Williams stockholders than the proposed merger of Williams and WPZ.

As part of ETE's proposal, WPZ would retain its current name and remain a publicly traded partnership headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company noted that there is no impact from this transaction on Energy Transfer Partners L.P (ETP), Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. (SXL) or Sunoco L.P. (SUN).