OREANDA-NEWS. The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) (“Williams”) today announced that, in connection with settling litigation by a Williams stockholder, it has agreed to file an amended disclosure to its proxy statement in connection with the merger agreement with Energy Transfer Equity, L.P. (NYSE:ETE) (“ETE”).

The amended disclosure states the following: ETE’s original due diligence-based projection, which was presented to Williams, of over $2 billion in annual synergies by year 2020 as a result of the proposed merger, which was published by Williams and ETE in a Sept. 28, 2015, joint press release and web links, and in the companies’ SEC filings, should not be relied on. As a result of the joint integration planning process in early 2016 by Williams and ETE, a new synergies estimate was built from the ground up, and the parties now estimate merger-related synergies of only $126 million annually by 2020 (a difference of $1.874 billion or 94%), and have further estimated that even if market conditions return to their July 2015 levels, merger-related synergies would be $543 million, not $2 billion.

Williams (NYSE:WMB) is a premier provider of large-scale infrastructure connecting North American natural gas and natural gas products to growing demand for cleaner fuel and feedstocks. Headquartered in Tulsa, Okla., Williams owns approximately 60 percent of Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE:WPZ) (“WPZ”), including all of the 2 percent general-partner interest. WPZ is an industry-leading, large-cap master limited partnership with operations across the natural gas value chain from gathering, processing and interstate transportation of natural gas and natural gas liquids to petchem production of ethylene, propylene and other olefins. With major positions in top U.S. supply basins and also in Canada, WPZ owns and operates more than 33,000 miles of pipelines system wide – including the nation’s largest volume and fastest growing pipeline – providing natural gas for clean-power generation, heating and industrial use. WPZ’s operations touch approximately 30 percent of U.S. natural gas.