Will Williams' (WMB) Board Be Replaced By Corvex's Meister?
Zacks Investment Research | Aug 25, 2016 09:37PM ET
Oklahoma-based pipeline company Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) , which recently lost a court battle to preserve a takeover from another pipeline operator Energy Transfer Equity L.P. (NYSE:ETE) , is facing a new trouble as the former director of the company has announced plans to overhaul the entire board of the company.
Keith Meister, the managing partner of Corvex Management that holds a 4.1% stake in Williams, intends to nominate 10 employees of his own hedge fund as placeholders. In this proxy battle launched against Williams, these employees will serve as placeholders for the Thursday, Aug 25th deadline of nominating new directors and the permanent independent directors will be presented by Corvex to the shareholders in November.
The reason behind Meister launching the proxy battle was the rejection of the proposal to nominate a majority of seven independent directors to the board by Williams. Also, Meister and the other directors lost confidence in the company when it was unable to close a deal to be acquired by Energy Transfer Equity. In addition, Williams missed financial expectations, saw growth projects fail and had a poor safety history over the last five years.
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