Williams sues Energy Transfer

Williams Cos. said it sued Energy Transfer Equity LP and its chairman to unwind a private unit offering Williams says interferes with a planned merger of the rival pipeline operators valued at $32.9 billion when the deal was announced in September. Energy Transfer’s recent offering of convertible preferred units breached a merger agreement reached in September and gives preferential treatment to “select investors,” Williams said Wednesday. It filed a separate complaint in Texas state court against Energy Transfer’s billionaire chairman, Kelcy Warren, accusing him of wrongfully interfering in the merger.