Williams Cos. won its 7-year legal fight over the failed $33 billion merger with Energy Transfer.
The Delaware Supreme Court not only gave the Tulsa-based company the legal victory but $495 million to boot. Energy Transfer got the blame as the high court said the Dallas-based company controlled by billionaire Kelcy Warren was to blame for walking away from the deal in 2016.
The Supreme Court upheld a series of decisions by Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III made in Delaware Chancery Court. It came in a 58-page opinion by Justice N. Christopher Griffiths and support Glassock’s awarding of $410 million and $85 million in legal fees to Williams. The ruling also upheld Glassock’s decision that rejected a $1.48 billion breakup fee bid made by Energy Transfer.
“We find no error with the Court of Chancery’s well-reasoned opinions,” Griffiths said. After “a long-running legal saga” involving “the better part of a decade,” the “litigation between the parties over their failed merger has now come to an end,” he added.
The ruling was joined by Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz Jr. and Justices Abigail M. LeGrow, Karen L. Valihura, and Gary F. Traynor.
Source: Bloomberg News
