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US: Williams director said she felt threatened to back ETE deal at trial

By  |  June 20, 2016

A Williams Cos board member testified she felt pressured by her own company to support a $20 billion merger with pipeline company Energy Transfer Equity, which ETE lawyers sought to depict as proof that Williams misrepresented its board’s support for the deal.

The two companies are suing each other as Energy Transfer Equity, or ETE, looks for a way to back out of the deal, which would create one of the world’s largest operators of pipeline to carry oil and gas.

The two-day trial in Delaware’s Court of Chancery before Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock opened on Monday.

Williams is asking the judge to force ETE to complete the takeover, alleging that the company and its chief executive, Dallas billionaire Kelcy Warren, have purposely worked to scuttle the agreed-upon deal.

ETE has countersued, arguing that Williams has breached the merger agreement, in part by misrepresenting the level of its board’s support for the deal.

Full Content: Reuters

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