Do you know much about where ETE's other major offices are at? Their HQ in Oak Lawn is tiny. I did see an article that said he would let Williams keep the name and HQ in Tulsa, so not sure if that was mean the WTZ (Williams Partners) that is merging into Williams or if ETE would become Williams and just ran by ETE management with the company staying HQ'ed in Tulsa?
Yeah - that has been ETE's model on their recent acquisitions. The companies they have acquired have stayed largely intact in whatever their location. That doesn't mean that there wouldn't be certain duplication of services with some corporate functions, but they haven't made a habit of just moving everything to Dallas.
Seems like a lot of analyst agree that this is just a stepping stone for Williams to get more $$$$ especially when you hire a broker (Barclays). Seems like money mangers are agreeing with the analysts too since Williams stock shot up to over $60.00 today.
Well the stated reason for rejecting the offer was that it "significantly undervalued" Williams. So on the face, yes, they would be rejecting it for more money. What complicates it a bit is that it's an all equity offer. That introduces the issue of valuating the underling currency (ETE equity) for the transaction. If our board believes that ETE equity is overvalued and that our equity is undervalued then it's not as simple as $64>$60. (I don't know that is the case.. just raw speculation on my part)
As for hiring Barclays, that's pretty standard. We've used them for all of our major financial transactions for years.
The thing is that as a public company, Williams' board has an obligation to its shareholders to evaluate an offer like this, and if they reject it (as they did) then they certainly have an obligation to make sure that the alternative -- whatever that might be -- is the better deal for the shareholders. That's what the "strategic alternative review" (which includes Barclays and Lazard) is all about.
EDIT - I just wanted to clarify that the stuff above is just my opinion... I certainly don't have any inside info or anything like that...if I did, I certainly wouldn't be posting it here.