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US: ETE seeks court ruling to allow termination of Williams merger

By  |  May 29, 2016

Energy Transfer Equity announced Thursday that it is seeking a court decision that The Williams Co. has breached the merger agreement the companies made on Sept. 28 and for that reason ETE is entitled to terminate the agreement.

If the court finds that ETE is entitled to terminate the merger agreement and does so, the press release states that Williams would owe a termination fee of $1.48 billion.

The request for the declaratory judgment is part of an affirmative defense and counterclaim ETE filed in response to the lawsuit brought by The Williams Cos. Inc. in the Delaware Court of Chancery on May 13. The counterclaim documents were filed under seal on May 20.

In a Williams statement released late Thursday, the Tulsa-based company says it believes that ETE’s counterclaims are entirely without merit and are yet another transparent attempt by ETE to avoid its obligations.

Full Content: Tulsa World

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