The founder of Rice Energy abandons the lawsuit against the energy producer EQT

(Reuters) – Toby Rice, co-founder of Rice Energy, bought out by EQT Corp in 2017, will drop his lawsuit against EQT after the US oil and gas producer said he was not trying to manipulate the results of his lawsuit, a spokeswoman for Rice said Sunday.

In July, Rice and her brother Derek presented a list of candidates who would challenge EQT's board of directors, claiming that EQT had mismanaged the $ 6.7 billion acquisition of their business, at the expense of its investors.

In a lawsuit filed last month, Rice also accused EQT of seeking to mislead its shareholders by describing the candidates to its board of directors as approving the existing EQT board of directors. , and by presenting their choice as binding clauses obliging EQT to repay its debt earlier or to refinance it.

In a letter to his management on Sunday, EQT said the lawsuit was an unfounded distraction. The Rice team misconstrued a "typical questionnaire for directors and officers" and said it would not try to confuse its directors with Rice's candidates. He added that he did not intend to trigger any change of control provisions that would have required debt refinancing or early repayment.

In response, the Rice team told Reuters in its statement that it was satisfied "EQT acknowledged that it had to withdraw its unreasonable demands" and that it was "deeply disappointed" that a trial was needed to settle the claim. problem. The Rice team is continuing its efforts to overthrow EQT's board of directors.

EQT, based in Pittsburgh, became one of the largest US gas producers when it concluded its collaboration with Rice Energy. Despite its new scale, EQT's share price has declined since the merger, prompting the Rice brothers to demand changes.

The way in which the company develops its badets is at the heart of the dispute. The Rice brothers insist that current management has not exploited the potential of EQT, while the company insists that siblings' forecasts are inflated and based on outdated market conditions.