Energy Transfer Makes “Indecent Proposal” to Buy Williams for $48B

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indecent proposalSunday evening MDN spotted what has to be THE biggest midstream story of 2015: Somebody wants to buy out and take over Williams Companies. The biggest midstream story of 2014 was the buyout of Access Midstream (the former Chesapeake Midstream) by Williams, creating a company that is nearly the size and certainly a worthy rival of the country’s biggest pipeline company Kinder Morgan (see Big News: Williams Partners Buying Access Midstream for $6B). Williams said at the time the “total transaction value” (or TTV) would create a combined company worth nearly $50 billion (see Deal Details for Williams/Access Midstream Merger – TTV of $50B!). Sunday evening Williams said, in a pair of prepared press releases, that somebody (they wouldn’t name who) has made an “unsolicited proposal” (almost sounding like an indecent proposal) to buy Williams for $64 per share, or a total deal worth $48 billion. Williams has rebuffed the offering, hiring some high-powered bankers to help them out of this mess. The guy and company making the offer, it has since been revealed, is none other than Kelcy Warren, CEO of both Energy Transfer Partners and Energy Transfer Equity, the main shareholder of ETP. ETP is very active in the Marcellus/Utica. We have as much as we can gather on Warren, background on ETP/ETE, his indecent proposal to Williams, and what Williams–one of if not THE largest midstream companies in the northeast–is doing in response to Warren’s proposal…

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