Houston energy company reportedly bidding for all of Williams Cos.
Aug 19, 2015, 2:29pm CDT
The Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE: WMB) reportedly has a new suitor: Houston-based Spectra Energy Corp. (NYSE: SE).
People familiar with the matter told Reuters that Spectra is “bidding for the whole of Williams,” even though the Oklahoma-based company has a market capitalization about twice the size of Spectra’s.
Prospective bidders submitted an initial round of bids in late July, and final bids are due the last week of August, Reuters reports.
Williams and Spectra declined to comment to Reuters. Spectra is the 37th-largest public company in the Houston area, based on its 2014 revenue of $5.9 billion, according to Houston Business Journal research.
In June, Williams rejected an unsolicited bid from Dallas-based Energy Transfer Equity LP (NYSE: ETE) valued at around $53 billion, the Dallas Business Journal, a sister paper, reports. The offer represented a 32 percent premium to Williams’ closing share price on June 19. But Williams said the offer for $64 a share “significantly undervalues” the midstream, which has 33,000 miles of pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.
After rejecting the offer, Williams said it would open itself up to strategic alternatives such as a sale, merger or moving forward with its plan to acquire the remainder of its master limited partnership, Williams Partners LP (NYSE: WPZ), creating a single company.
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Energy Transfer made it to the second round of bidding for Williams. However, Energy Transfer wants to keep Williams and its master limited partnership as separate companies.
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