WMB Williams Companies Inc

Energy Transfer Equity LP said Wednesday that it had terminated its merger agreement with Williams Cos. that had been valued at nearly $33 billion when it was signed last year.

ETE said it had provided written notice terminating the agreement after a Delaware judge Friday ruled that the company would be allowed to do so after its lawyers said they wouldn't be able to deliver a tax opinion needed for the deal to close.

Williams on Monday had said that it would continue its legal fight to close a merger with ETE after Williams' shareholders voted to approve the troubled deal. Williams said votes cast in favor of the merger represented more than 63% of all outstanding shares.

Williams said it had filed papers commencing an appeal of the judge's decision to the Delaware Supreme Court. The company said it still believed ETE breached its merger agreement and didn't have the right to terminate it.

"Williams remains ready, willing and able to close the merger under the Merger Agreement entered into with ETE on September 28, 2015," the company said in a statement.

In September, ETE had agreed to buy Williams in a deal that valued Williams at $43.50 a share. Since the deal was announced, and as oil prices continued to slide, Energy Transfer has had second thoughts, particularly about the $6 billion cash component of the deal.

Earlier this year, ETE said its lawyers had discovered that the deal could potentially trigger a big tax bill, and they couldn't sign off on it. Williams took ETE to court to try to hold the company to the terms of the merger agreement.

Shares of Williams Cos. closed Tuesday up 3.2% at $20.64, while ETE shares finished up 6% at $14.41.

Alison Sider and Austen Hufford contributed to this article.

Write to copydesk@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 29, 2016 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT)

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