TC Energy Owes $199 Million in Columbia Pipeline Deal Case (1)

TC Energy Corp., the former TransCanada Corp., owes $199 million plus interest to ex-investors in Columbia Pipeline Group Inc., which it acquired in an underpriced $13 billion transaction, a Delaware judge ruled Wednesday.

TransCanada had laid a “trap” by breaching a standstill agreement to learn confidential information from Columbia executives, then driving down the price by threatening to publicly walk away from the negotiating table, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster said in an 87-page opinion. Although the Columbia officers breached their fiduciary duties by tipping off TransCanada, “it takes two to tango,” the judge said.

“The tempter, or ...