Energy Transfer CEO on Williams: 'We can't close this deal'

Energy Transfer Equity LP Chief Executive Kelcy Warren said on Thursday the pipeline company cannot complete an agreed-upon $21 billion takeover of rival Williams Cos Inc because of tax issues.

 

"We can't close this deal," Warren said on a company conference call. "Absent a substantial restructuring of this transaction, which Energy Transfer has been very willing and actually desiring to do, absent that, we don't have a deal."

 

Warren said that Energy Transfer would be open to a deal that would remove the cash portion of its cash-and-stock bid for Williams.

 

Dallas billionaire Warren set his sights on Williams last year in order to transform his empire into one of the biggest pipeline networks in the world, but the timing was poor. A prolonged drop in oil and gas prices has made the deal more difficult to finance and to justify to shareholders.

 

ETE would need to take on a heavy debt load to fund the $6 billion cash portion of the deal.

 

Energy Transfer units were up $1.01, or 8.3 percent, at $13.21 on Monday morning. Williams shares rose 49 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $19.73.


(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Meredith Mazzilli)