Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett and three former Williams Companies chief executive officers joined forces in an effort to block the company’s merger with Energy Transfer Equity LP, according to a Bloomberg report.
“My city will bear a very substantial cost for a transaction that destroys value for the shareholders it is supposed to benefit,” said Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett in a letter issued on June 7 insisting that Williams shareholders should reject the merger. “I don’t need to be a Wall Street banker or lawyer to recognize a one-sided bargain when I see one.”
Bartlett’s letter follows a June 2 letter issued by former Williams CEOs Joseph H. Williams, Keith E. Bailey and Steven J. Malcolm indicating the merger would allow Williams shareholders to be “segregated and isolated” and “taken advantage of” by ETE and its CEO Kelcy Warren.
ETE previously indicated that it would consolidate headquarters and “significantly reduce” the Tulsa office in order to maximize the cost savings associated with the merger.
Both Williams and ETE declined to comment, according to the Bloomberg report..
