This Is Not An Investment Site; Do Not Make Any Investment Or Financial Decisions Based On What You Read Here Or Think You May Have Read Here -- June 21, 2015

Updates

June 25, 2015: nice graphics; WMB has room to run; SeekingAlpha. 

June 23, 2015: Wells Fargo thinks it's a great deal; would not be surprised to see ETE have to raise offer to $70/share.

June 23, 2015: WMB and ETP have clashed before.

June 22, 2015: WSJ's take on the proposed WMB-ETE deal. 

June 22, 2015: Schwab, prior to the WMB-ETE announcement rated WMB a "D" investment (on an ABCDF scale). Even today, the Schwab rating was still a "D" investment.

June 22, 2015: flashback -- ETE (ETP) / Regency Energy Partners -- one of top ten M & A deals so far in 2015.

Energy Transfer Partners, a master limited partnership owning energy assets and is also the parent of Sunoco, acquired Regency Energy Partners on April 30. The companies announced the complicated merger agreement on Jan. 26, 2015 in which an "indirect subsidiary of ETP, [would merge] with and into Regency, with Regency surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of ETP." The transaction was completed on April 30.

Later, 7:50 p.m.: we have the answer:

The approach was from pipeline magnate Kelcy Warren’s Energy Transfer Equity LP, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the information is private. 

Original Post

Are "things" starting to break open in the energy sector?

First, the news this past week: SRE and a MLP. A big story but not as big as what was just announced. A huge "thank you" to a reader for catching this: $50 billion bid for Williams?

Unsolicited.

$65 x 750 million shares = $48,750 million, or about $50 billion.

WMB, at about $50/share now; market cap about $36 billion.

WMB, enterprise value, about $60 billion. The big question: who has that kind of money? Warren Buffett likes pipelines. WMB is headquarterd in OK, not too far from Omaha. Warren bought BNI for $44 billion. He likes huge CAPEX companies that pay nicely over the years. Warren knows energy won't get any cheaper in his lifetime. This could be his swan song. Warren knows a good deal when he sees one. That much pipeline brings a lot of other stuff. He likes being in the news and this would certainly be in the news. [Update, 7:41 p.m.: I'm wrong on this one. It's not Warren Buffett. Buffett doesn't do unsolicited bids. If this was Buffett's deal, it would have been a done deal, and announced as a done deal. So, scratch Buffett.]

Other than that, it's some a) Wall Street (hedge) fund (see below); or, b) a group of investors/funds doing something outlandish.

China?

By the way, if you use the exact numbers, 749 million shares x $64 = $47,936 million = 48 billion, not a lot different that Warren paid for BNI.

Can't wait for the screenshot Monday.

Flashback -- 

February 14, 2014: activists get involved.

The two activist hedge funds looking to spur change at the Williams Companies disclosed on Friday that they have raised their collective stake in the gas pipeline company and have hired an investment banker to aid them in their campaign.

The firms, Corvex Management and Soroban Capital Partners, said in a regulatory filing that they have increased their economic interest in Williams to just under 10 percent of the company’s value, up from an initial 5.3 percent.

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The Magnificent Locations of The Grand Budapest Hotel

Link here. 

Includes a video for making / creating the wonderful pastry seen in the movie.