Corvex Capital Ups Its Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB); Soroban’s Eric Mandelblatt To Join Company’s Board

Keith Meister‘s Corvex Capital has increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB). In a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Corvex has reported ownership of 41.6 million shares, up from the 39 million shares previously reported.

Corvex Capital and Eric W. Mandelblatt‘s Soroban Capital have signed an agreement to work together on issues regarding their investment in Williams Companies. Together they hold 62.6 million shares, which account for 9.17% of the company’s common stock. Soroban Capital has not made any changes to the previously reported 21 million shares.

On February 25 an agreement was reached to extend the number of board members of Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) from 11 to 12 members. Eric W. Mandelblatt is set to occupy the vacant place. Among the rights of Mr. Mandelblatt it is useful to note his ability to further increase the number of board members and nominate Mr. Meister to fill the resulting vacancy, but no earlier than November 20, 2014.

Keith Master commented:

Williams is a strong company with an attractive strategic position in an industry with powerful growth tailwinds. We believe the company presents tremendous opportunities for future value creation.

Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) has also attracted the attention of Senator Investment Group run by Doug Silverman and Alexander Klabin. In its latest 13F reported, Senator Investment disclosed a 11% increase in their stake to 5 million shares, valued at approximately $193 million.

With a market cap of $28 billion, the company pays an annual dividend of $1.44, which represents a yield of 3.5%. The stock is traded at a Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 45.63 and has a beta of 1.32. For the fourth quarter of 2013, Williams posted revenues of $1.66 billion and earnings of $0.22 per share. Analysts estimate revenues of $1.88 billion and earnings per share of $0.28 for the current quarter.

Disclosure: none

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