Delaware Supreme Court rules Energy Transfer must pay Williams $495M

The Delaware Supreme Court ruled in favor of Williams (WMB), saying Energy Transfer LP (ET) must pay the company a total of $495M for walking away from their planned merger. The court said, “The parties have spent the better part of a decade litigating over various fees to which they argue they are entitled under the Merger Agreement. ETE continues to assert its entitlement to a $1.48 billion breakup fee, despite being the party who terminated the Merger. It also disputes that it must pay Williams a $410 million reimbursement fee, which it was required to pay if the Merger failed and certain conditions were met. Finally, ETE argues that a related $85 million attorney’s fee award is unreasonable. But we find no error with the Court of Chancery’s well-reasoned opinions that hold that ETE is not entitled to an over-one-billion-dollar fee and find that ETE must pay Williams the $410 million reimbursement fee and the related $85 million in attorney’s fees. The litigation between the parties over their failed merger has now come to an end.”