CDT Roundup: 8 Deals, 8 Firms, 65 Lawyers, $3.2B

Perhaps you’re in the mood for some good news. Let’s forget the tease here and just say it out loud: M&A is back.

Data from Pitchbook for the first three quarters of 2024 shows that global M&A has rebounded both in volume and value: up 13.3 percent by deal count year over year, and up by deal value by 27.6 percent.

It’s part of a rebound that began in the last quarter of 2023, gathered slowly as inflation fears subsided and is now beginning to accelerate as PE investors are reentering the market.

“The M&A recovery that commenced in Q4 2023 is now gaining steam,” notes Pitchbook analyst Tim Clarke. “While corporate M&A came out of the gates early, PE activity lagged due to high borrowing costs. That began to change in Q2, and as of Q3 the PE buyer is now all in.”

Bringing the analysis closer, M&A in North America has been a huge part of the rebound. There were, according to Pitchbook’s estimate, 16,437 deals in all of 2023. With 13,507 deals during the first nine months of 2024, North American M&A is on a pace to surpass 18,000 by the end of the year. And valuation is rising even faster, with the year-end aggregate expected to eclipse 2023 by 30 percent.

So, how are we doing in Texas? Thank you for asking.

The Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker database archives Texas-related deals. Texas-related deals, we remind you, are deals involving Texas companies or significant contributions by Texas lawyers. And the CDT shows that during the first three quarters of 2023, there were 617 Texas-related deals valued at a total of $355.5 billion. This year we’re showing 829 deals valued at $499.2 billion, year over year.

Even in terms of megadeals (those valued over $5 billion), Texas has had a pretty firm hand. According to Pitchbook, the top 10 North American megadeals during Q3 2024 were valued at 111.6 percent above the previous year.

Two of the top megadeals for the quarter, they noted, were in the consumer and technology sectors. The first was the $35.9 million take-private acquisition of the snack company Kellanova by Mars, one of the most private of private globals. The second was the $20 billion acquisition by Verizon of Frontier Communications, one of the nation’s largest pure play fiber providers.

Both are in the CDT by virtue of their Texas connection. Kellanova was advised by a Kirkland & Ellis team co-led by Austin corporate partner Emily Lichtenheld. Frontier Communications is headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Irving.

In the first three quarters of this year, Texas-related megadeals have become staples.

But, as Pitchbook notes, the Deals-With-Big-Numbers have come fast and furious in sectors outside the energy business, even in Texas. From Q1 through Q3 2024 there were 94 Texas-related deals valued at $1 billion or more, and 24 of those were megadeals.

In February, Home Depot agreed to pay $18.25 billion for SRS Distribution, a wholesale company in McKinney (Weil advised on the deal).

In March, Tronic Ventures, based in Carrollton, announced its $12.25 billion purchase of JBB Advanced Technologies, also Carrollton-based (Weil counseled JBB).

And the $7.6 billion quarter-closing sale by Dallas-based AT&T of DirecTV to TPG (with Texas lawyers from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher counseling AT&T).

It’s edifying to check the pulse of global M&A markets on occasion. In many, often obvious ways what happens on other continents has a not-so-subtle influence on economic decisions made in the Lone Star State.

But it’s equally instructive, and sometimes jolting, to remind ourselves of the preciseness with which they often connect.

The news above notwithstanding, the week ending Oct. 26 was light on transaction action. Only eight deals were reported with a value of $3.2 billion. The week prior saw 12 deals reported worth $5.3 billion. But both pale against the 18 deals valued at $68.4 billion this time last year. Of course, that was the week last year when Chevron announced its $60 billion acquisition of Hess Corp. — a deal that we have mentioned before has yet to be consummated.

Weekly Corporate Deal Tracker Roundup Stats

A compilation of weekly stats from The Lawbook's CDT Weekly Roundup
(Deal Values in Millions)

Week Ending	Deal Count	Amount	Firms	Lawyers	M&A Count	M&A Value $M	CapM Count	CapM Value $M
09-Nov-24	14	$2,110	12	139	12	$1,410	2	$700
02-Nov-24	12	$52,788	11	107	11	$52,738	1	$50
26-Oct-24	8	$3,160	8	65	7	$3,065	1	$75
19-Oct-24	12	$5,304	11	136	11	$4,554	1	$750
12-Oct-24	17	$8,438	12	150	15	$8,116	2	$322
05-Oct-24	22	$23,181	12	189	15	$19,980	7	$3,201
28-Sep-24	11	$2,356	7	144	7	$53	4	$2,303
21-Sep-24	12	$9,568	10	169	5	$4,101	7	$5,467
14-Sep-24	24	$10,988	12	235	16	$7,175	8	$3,813
7-Sep-24	12	$20,420	16	168	11	$20,307	1	$112.9
31-Aug-24	13	$20,631	9	134	12	$14,775	1	$5,856
24-Aug-24	19	$8,452	21	325	16	$7,102	3	$1,350
17-Aug-24	25	$49,196	16	304	11	$39,386	14	$9,810
10-Aug-24	20	$12,264	15	312	16	$9,794	4	$2,470
03-Aug-24	26	$16,498	16	334	18	$8,137	8	$8,361
27-Jul-24	19	$16,442	21	271	15	$13,838	4	$2,604
20-Jul-24	15	$16,016	14	184	10	$14,232	5	$1,784
13-Jul-24	20	$17,220	14	265	18	$7,146	2	$10,074
6-Jul-24	11	$3,941	11	95	8	$2,650	3	$1,291
29-Jun-24	14	$6,296	15	224	8	$6,296	6	$1,927
22-Jun-24	12	$5,679	8	137	5	$210	7	$5,469
15-Jun-24	13	$9,895	16	214	10	$5,280	3	$4,615
8-Jun-24	19	$23,859	13	239	12	$19,436	7	$4,423
1-Jun-24	12	$34,510	11	147	9	$26,110	3	$8,400
25-May-24	13	$9,684	15	171	10	$4,434	3	$5,250
18-May-24	11	$5,490	11	173	8	$3,129	3	$2,361
11-May-24	22	$14,855	14	227	16	$11,105	6	$3,750
4-May-24	13	$3,139	9	87	10	$1,297	3	$1,842
27-Apr-24	10	$6,684	6	28	10	$6,684	0	0
20-Apr-24	19	$15,989	11	147	9	$5,208	10	$10,781
13-Apr-24	13	$8,952	9	76	10	$1,652	3	$7,300
6-Apr-24	22	$22,616	14	222	14	$13,501	8	$13,116
30-Mar-24	12	$9,286	8	136	8	$4,299	4	$4,987
23-Mar-24	18	$5,451	17	266	16	$4,759	2	$692
16-Mar-24	21	$11,437	13	186	14	$9,316	6	$2,070
9-Mar-24	23	$4,695	21	218	19	$2,723	4	$1,972
2-Mar-24	20	$9,108	19	372	14	$4,558	6	$4,550
24-Feb-24	19	$16,382	12	248	15	$9,507	4	$6,875
17-Feb-24	16	$29,932	15	157	12	$29,216	4	$716
10-Feb-24	25	$10,750	17	196	19	$5,372	6	$5,379
3-Feb-24	12	$8,416	18	125	9	$3,416	3	$5,000
27-Jan-24	9	$8,165	9	87	8	$7,815	1	$800
20-Jan-24	14	$4,084	12	109	12	$3,219	2	$865
13-Jan-24	17	$33,588	12	256	12	$26,765	5	$6,823
6-Jan-24	8	$7,915	8	84	6	$7,265	2	$650
30-Dec-23	17	$14,599	12	99	15	$2,714	2	$11,885
23-Dec-23	23	$4,182	13	219	16	$1,813	7	$2,370
16-Dec-23	13	$16,436	13	280	7	$15,150	5	$1,286
9-Dec-23	26	$14,633.90	17	244	16	$8,095	10	$6,538.90
2-Dec-23	13	$6,720	9	57	12	$6,630	1	$90
25-Nov-23	9	$4,835	9	131	6	$1,785	3	$3,050
18-Nov-23	22	$6,568.70	17	184	14	$4,709.20	8	$1,859.50
11-Nov-23	15	$9,825	13	179	12	$6,581	3	$3,244
4-Nov-23	15	$20,582.50	14	193	12	$19,417.50	3	$1,165
28-Oct-23	18	$68,419.10	18	152	15	$66,646	3	$1,773.10
21-Oct-23	16	$6,755.90	16	165	15	$6,755.90	1	$3
14-Oct-23	14	$67,851.20	13	125	9	$61,998.50	5	$5,852.70
7-Oct-23	17	$6,595.50	13	228	16	$5,995.50	1	$600
30-Sep-23	17	$1,896.45	13	189	14	$806.45	3	$1,090
23-Sep-23	23	$6,432.70	17	230	16	$1,402.80	7	$5,029.90
16-Sep-23	25	$23,226.70	23	353	16	$17,239	9	$5,987.70
9-Sep-23	12	$6,369	8	102	7	$4,311	5	$2,058
2-Sep-23	14	$2,522	6	92	13	$1,322	1	$1,200
26-Aug-23	17	$12,160.25	13	202	15	$6,573.25	2	$5,587.00
19-Aug-23	19	$11,505	13	213	15	$11,255	4	$250
12-Aug-23	19	$9,698.80	13	184	7	$3,270	12	$6,428.80
5-Aug-23	13	$5,201	12	118	12	$5,051	1	$150
29-Jul-23	15	$21,031.60	13	196	11	$18,292.00	4	$2,739.60
22-Jul-23	18	$3,992	12	130	13	$2,808	5	$1,184
15-Jul-23	13	$8,254.95	13	81	13	$8,254.95	0	0
8-Jul-23	16	$5,441.45	12	172	11	$2,443	5	$2,998.45
1-Jul-23	16	$6,872	10	105	12	$5,474	4	$1,398
24-Jun-23	13	$10,914	16	201	10	$7,874	3	$3,040
17-Jun-23	17	$5,880.70	15	151	15	$4,705.70	2	$1,175
10-Jun-23	19	$8,516.10	13	111	16	$6,252.40	3	$2,263.70
June 3 2023	12	$6,104.42	12	138	8	$4,256.92	4	$1,847.50
27-May-23	17	$12,200	10	67	11	$6,165	6	$6,035
20-May-23	11	$22,458.10	8	103	4	$19,455	7	$3,003
13-May-23	12	$7,034	10	101	8	$5,460	4	$1,574
6-May-23	20	$3,297.60	18	196	17	$2,985.60	3	$312
29-Apr-23	23	$3,691.20	18	135	17	$1,969.70	6	$1,721.50
22-Apr-23	16	$5,570	14	104	14	$4,750	2	$1,000
15-Apr-23	12	$23,818.10	9	59	10	$21,618.10	2	$2,200
8-Apr-23	16	$7,949	9	173	9	$5,472	7	$3,477
1-Apr-23	21	$18,676.70	12	175	11	$10,926.70	10	$7,750
25-Mar-23	15	$8,779.50	10	141	5	$2,362	10	$6,416.50
18-Mar-23	7	$14,048.80	6	69	5	$13,345	2	$703.80
11-Mar-23	21	$11,576	16	165	16	$8,131	5	$3,445
4-Mar-23	20	$9,668	11	228	16	$8,209	4	$1,459
25-Feb-23	13	$5,335	13	130	12	$4,235	1	$1,200
18-Feb-23	14	$5,743.70	13	158	8	$898.70	6	$4,845
11-Feb-23	16	$12,088	12	137	12	$9,965	4	$2,123
4-Feb-23	17	$8,066	15	140	13	$5,614	4	$2,452
28-Jan-23	7	$2,180	7	75	5	$1,692.75	2	$488
21-Jan-23	17	$5,768	16	174	12	$1,918	5	$3,850
14-Jan-23	11	$2, 800	10	102	8	$421	3	$2,400
7-Jan-23	18	$8,296	11	167	14	$6,461	3	$1,835
31-Dec-22	14	$2,732	11	99	12	$2,092	2	$640
17-Dec	14	$7,919	13	115	12	$7,419	1	$500
10-Dec-22	14	$10,093	12	88	11	$7,093	3	$3,000
3-Dec-22	26	$12,800.90	11	172	20	$4,141	6	$8,659.90
26-Nov-22	8	$2,266.70	8	5	3	$76	5	$2,190.70
19-Nov-22	21	$2,886	15	212	19	$2,550	2	$336
12-Nov-22	13	$15,093.70	9	81	9	$14,200	4	$893.70
5-Nov-22	25	19,337.20	16	509	22	$8,267.20	3	$11,070
29-Oct-22	15	$7,805.30	9	116	14	$7,180.30	1	$625
22-Oct-22	20	$8,193.50	13	253	13	$5,442	7	$2,751.50
15-Oct-22	9	$3,046.10	9	139	7	$2,588.30	2	$457.80
8-Oct-22	19	$2,011.80	12	114	16	$833.80	3	$1,178
1-Oct-22	23	$5,532.90	16	156	18	$4,952.30	5	$580.60
24-Sep-22	18	$5,194	14	216	15	$4,050	3	$1,144
17-Sep-22	21	$8,352.30	12	320	15	$4,759.60	6	$3,592.70
10-Sep-22	15	$19,853.50	10	126	13	$19,403.60	2	$450
3-Sep-22	9	$2,312	9	62	9	$2,312	0	0
27-Aug-22	16	$30,891.70	10	135	15	$30,666.40	1	227.7
20-Aug-22	12	$1,977	8	152	9	925	3	$1,052
13-Aug-22	18	$8,004.70	11	242	11	$2,844.70	7	$5,160
6-Aug-22	24	$7,948.90	12	240	17	$3,577	7	$4,371.90
30-Jul-22	8	$6,941	9	78	7	$6,839	1	$102
23-Jul-22	11	$801	11	92	10	$801	1	0
16-Jul-22	14	$3,650	10	122	14	$3,650	0	0
9-Jul-22	10	$3,557.70	7	68	9	$3,557.70	1	0
2-Jul-22	18	$8,609.40	13	152	15	$2,754.40	3	$5,855
25-Jun-22	15	$6,142	13	146	9	$2,017	6	$4,125
18-Jun-22	17	$11,890.10	14	228	15	$11,410	2	479.7
11-Jun-22	17	$7,600	12	123	10	$2,300	7	$5,300
4-Jun-22	12	$2,937	10	127	9	$692	3	$2,245
28-May-22	9	$3,197.60	11	86	9	$3,197.60	0	0
21-May-22	14	$7,284.50	12	185	11	$6,609	3	$675.50
14-May-22	11	$306.60	9	80	10	$306.60	1	$225
7-May-22	16	$10,451.75	12	108	12	$1,827	4	$8,624.75
30-Apr-22	16	$2,296.50	16	157	12	$895.50	4	$1,401
23-Apr-22	10	$2,241	11	58	8	$1,641	2	$600
16-Apr-22	11	$6,643	7	156	8	$2,359	3	$4,284
9-Apr-22	17	$4,429	14	184	11	$1,690	6	$2,739
2-Apr-22	13	$1,755	8	84	10	$1,145	3	$610
26-Mar-22	11	$3,205	8	65	6	$200	5	$3,005
19-Mar-22	13	$2,239.17	9	106	13	$2,239.17	0	0
12-Mar-22	18	$12,016	11	239	15	$11,965	2	$51.35
5-Mar-22	17	$6,786	13	137	13	$5,161	4	$1,625
26-Feb-22	12	$5,095	8	149	9	$4,437.50	3	$658
19-Feb-22	17	$22,229	17	174	14	$21,354	3	$875
12-Feb-22	12	$2,344.70	10	73	8	$641.70	4	$1,703
5-Feb-22	11	$2,503	8	99	11	$2,503	0	0
29-Jan-22	11	$3,872	12	101	12	$3,872	0	0
22-Jan-22	13	$5,143.50	10	99	12	$4,842.50	1	$301
15-Jan-22	12	$7,605	9	155	9	$6,480	3	$1,025
8-Jan-22	13	$8,256.20	11	102	13	$8,256.20	0	0
1-Jan-22	9	$1,273.80	6	50	9	$1,273.80	0	0
25-Dec-21	21	$4,734.75	11	176	16	$3,410	5	$1,324.75
18-Dec-21	26	$7,325.20	15	193	18	$3,640.20	8	$3,685.20
11-Dec-21	16	$5,017	10	109	13	$1,417	3	$3,600
4-Dec-21	14	$2,310	8	86	8	$2,310	6	$1,882.05
27-Nov-21	9	$3.460.1	10	101	6	$1,758	3	$1,702.60
20-Nov-21	20	$22,792	15	157	12	$18,864.50	8	$3,928
13-Nov-21	21	$26,729	12	178	13	$11,822	8	$14,907
6-Nov-21	12	$8,303	13	157	10	$6,682	3	$1,621
30-Oct-21	21	$10,368	15	218	15	$9,24.4	6	$1,103.00
23-Oct-21	21	$18.783.1	15	222	11	$12,314	10	$6,468.60
16-Oct-21	15	$3,868	11	118	15	$2,293	2	$1,575
9-Oct-21	20	$8,610	16	175	16	$7,795	4	$815
2-Oct-21	14	$6,250	11	137	10	$5,200	4	$1,050
25-Sep-21	11	$11,460	9	93	7	$10,200	4	$1,250
18-Sep-21	11	$16,603	8	99	8	$15,084	3	$1,519
11-Sep-21	17	$10,653	11	103	13	$8,503	4	$2,150
4-Sep-21	13	$7,222	10	89	11	$6,715	2	$507
28-Aug-21	12	$763	9	63	11	$663	1	$100
21-Aug-21	12	$29,659	7	79	11	$29,579	1	$80
14-Aug-21	22	$17,845	11	199	12	$12,805	10	$5,04
7-Aug-21	17	$13,670	12	139	15	$11,766	2	$1,904
31-Jul-21	21	$8,160	11	134	10	$3,574	10	$4,586
July 24,2021	21	$6,367	11	139	15	$3,712	6	$2,655
17-Jul-21	14	$4,009	11	124	12	$2,015	2	$1,994
10-Jul-21	16	$3,997	13	143	11	$1,597	4	$2,4
3-Jul-21	24	$7,492	13	94	16	$3,769	8	$3,722
26-Jun-21	10	$4,995	7	85	8	$3,847	2	$1,148
19-Jun-21	28	$16,830	8	228	9	$1,861	19	$14,968
12-Jun-21	26	$27,238	15	209	19	$25,602	7	$1,636
5-Jun-21	15	$15,539	13	100	13	$14,709	2	$600
29-May-21	35	$20,279	11	145	28	$18,64	7	$1,639
22-May-21	24	$53,208	14	174	17	$51,047	7	$2,161
15-May-21	18	$10,620	13	220	11	$5,870	7	$4,809
8-May-21	17	$10,400	11	156	15	$8,386	2	$2,500
1-May-21	21	$7,200	16	115	12	$3,808	9	$3,392
24-Apr-21	8	$20,200	9	31	8	$20,200	0	0
17-Apr-21	14	$6,270	8	102	11	$40,180	3	$2,260
10-Apr-21	15	$8,940	13	129	14	$7,990	1	$950
3-Apr-21	18	$19,513	10	151	12	$16,923	6	$2,590
27-Mar-21	27	$13,942	15	244	14	$4,300	13	$9,633.50
20-Mar-21	11	$2,046	4	102	3	$270	8	$1,776
13-Mar-21	15	$3,270	9	109	6	$538	9	$2,732
6-Mar-21	24	$13,617	10	196	13	$10,395	11	$3,222
27-Feb-21	19	$8,105	12	139	15	$4,970	4	$3,135
20-Feb-21	9	$8,820	9	153	8	$8,520	1	$300
13-Feb-21	12	$4,852.60	7	81	7	2,766	5	$2,086.60
6-Feb-21	18	$9,752	13	153	14	$5,222	4	$4,530
30-Jan-21	18	$9,449	9	182	15	$8,753.80	3	$695.30
23-Jan-21	14	$8,150	8	118	6	$4,000	8	$4,150
16-Jan-21	17	$6,783	13	138	11	$2,400	6	$4,382.90
9-Jan-21	22	$6,829	14	135	18	$3,139.30	4	$3,690
2-Jan-21	7	$1,466	7	60	7	$1,466	0	0
26-Dec-20	18	$15,900	12	163	16	$5,300	1	$600
19-Dec-20	18	$9,769	14	110	14	$8,426	4	$1,343
12-Dec-20	10	$7,200	9	100	9	$3,325	1	$3,830
5-Dec-20	15	$4,261	9	122	9	$2,780	6	$1,481
28-Nov-20	19	$7,758	10	110	13	$4,003	6	$3,755
14-Nov-20	14	$864.10	14	157	12	$289.10	2	$575
7-Nov-20	13	$6,332	9	129	9	$2,483.50	4	$3,849
31-Oct-20	10	$3,995.80	8	103	6	$3,231.10	4	$754.70
24-Oct-20	6	$18,100	6	58	5	$17,709	1	$350
17-Oct-20	8	$351.90	5	55	8	$351.90	0	0
10-Oct-20	7	$5,229	3	50	4	$735	3	$4,494
3-Oct-20	14	$21,428	9	173	9	$17,535	5	$3,893
26-Sep-20	10	$12,770	8	93	5	$10,300	5	$2,470
19-Sep-20	14	$8,365	9	101	6	$1,020	8	$7,345
12-Sep-20	6	$4,406	8	59	3	$1,270	3	$3,136
5-Sep-20	11	$5,191	8	117	9	$4,061	2	$1,130
29-Aug-20	11	$2,531	9	94	5	$1,130	6	$1,401
22-Aug-20	18	$6,574	12	140	7	$1,930	11	$4,644
15-Aug-20	13	$4,991	10	97	7	$1,216	6	$3,775
8-Aug-20	12	$32,092	11	112	9	$30,457	3	$1,635
1-Aug-20	7	$5,287	8	76	5	$3,687	2	$1,600
25-Jul-20	9	$18,751	6	67	7	$18,403	2	$348
18-Jul-20	6	$1,982.50	5	50	4	$1,407.50	2	$575
11-Jul-20	11	$565.10	12	75	10	$65.10	1	$500
4-Jul-20	10	$8,889	8	98	9	$8,788	1	$100.30
27-Jun-20	8	$6,874	10	50	5	$4,972.50	3	$2,081.50
20-Jun-20	12	$4,444	9	115	7	$2,829	5	$1,615
13-Jun-20	6	$3,582	4	37	2	$350	4	$3,232
6-Jun-20	11	$3,213.70	8	65	7	$470	4	$2,743.70
30-May-20	8	$7,335	7	48	6	$4,639	2	$2,697
23-May-20	4	$432.40	4	34	3	$432.40	1	0
16-May-20	6	$310	6	34	5	$310	1	0
9-May-20	18	$5,630	16	124	14	$3,180	4	$2,450
2-May-20	15	10,400	10	90	8	$1,900	7	$,8,500
25-Apr-20	8	$3,400	9	36	5	$1,000	3	$2,450
18-Apr-20	19	$9,500	14	92	8	$185.70	11	$9,360
11-Apr-20	12	$6,000	9	40	5	$190	7	$5,800
4-Apr-20	14	$8,200	11	68	10	$2,200	4	$6,000
28-Mar-20	16	$6,500	13	96	10	$3,700	6	$2,800
21-Mar-20	11	$11,910	7	33	7	$2,250	4	$9,960
14-Mar-20	7	809.8	6	34	6	684.8	1	125
7-Mar-20	16	$2,500	15	70	13	$669	3	$1,400
29-Feb-20	13	$15,260	13	128	11	$11,760	2	$3,500
22-Feb-20	12	$3,700	10	92	10	$2,560	2	$1,130
15-Feb-20	16	$1,250	10	84	12	$35	4	$1,222
8-Feb-20	18	$6,080	14	123	14	$2,595	4	$3,485
1-Feb-20	21	$20,900	12	101	14	$17,860	7	$3,060
25-Jan-20	13	$7,430	13	62	12	$6,430	1	$1,000
18-Jan-20	23	$9,580	15	120	19	$6,580	4	$3,000
11-Jan-20	21	$14,200	18	199	16	$1,020	5	$13,200
4-Jan-20	22	$6,400	11	119	16	$3,204	6	$3,245
28-Dec-19	22	$7,150	19	175	18	$6,800	4	$327.40
14-Dec-19	24	$36,300	23	167	19	$9,500	5	$26,800
7-Dec-19	11	$10,400	11	55	7	$1,082	4	$9,370
November 30. 2019	14	$2,450	12	126	12	$1,760	2	$692.50
23-Nov-19	16	$1,995	10	41	11	$615	5	$1,380
16-Nov-19	15	$3,820	13	135	11	$2,500	4	$1,271
9-Nov-19	25	$12,900	17	182	23	$12,200	2	$575
2-Nov-19	10	$2,470	12	61	9	2,450	3	$22
26-Oct-19	12	$5,560	14	70	11	$3,860	1	$1,700
19-Oct-19	8	$6,600	8	138	8	$6,600	0	0
12-Oct-19	19	$4,300	14	55	16	$3,800	3	$500
5-Oct-19	18	$14,500	19	166	15	$11,100	3	$3,400
28-Sep-19	19	$8,100	18	132	18	$7,560	1	$550
21-Sep-19	14	$6,300	16	66	11	$2,160	3	$4,170
14-Sep-19	15	$23,800	12	56	11	$21,250	4	$2,570
7-Sep-19	17	$3,500	15	98	14	$1,900	3	$1,600
31-Aug-19	5	$8,700	6	50	5	$8,700	0	0
24-Aug-19	16	$10,000	14	82	15	$4,250	1	$5,750
16-Aug-19	10	$1,680	5	52	7	$650	3	$950
9-Aug-19	17	$17,700	15	68	14	$3,900	3	$13,800
2-Aug-19	13	$5,760	12	108	13	$5,760	NA	NA
27-Jul-19	11	$7,300	13	76	8	$6,570	3	$730
20-Jul-19	13	$11,800	13	125	11	$5,300	2	$6,500
13-Jul-19	10	$775	7	46	8	$542.50	2	$233
6-Jul-19	7	$2,500	9	85	7	$2,500	0	0
29-Jun-19	23	$8,290	15	154	17	$2,300	6	$5,970
22-Jun-19	17	$10,700	10	139	14	$7,700	3	$3,000
15-Jun-19	11	$13,500	14	160	11	$13,500	NA	NA
8-Jun-19	13	$2,870	17	55	11	$1,570	2	$1,300
1-Jun-19	10	$4,460	11	60	8	$4,140	2	$315
25-May-19	17	$4,360	14	79	14	$3,700	3	$612
18-May-19	22	$9,000	17	150	16	$3,400	6	$5,600
11-May-19	18	$19,800	17	177	15	$18,300	3	$1,500
4-May-19	10	$7,075	6	32	8	$6,900	2	$175
27-Apr-19	15	$3,200	14	117	14	$3,160	1	$40
20-Apr-19	13	$13,500	10	90	9	$12,200	4	$1,300
13-Apr-19	16	$38,900	14	91	14	$37,800	2	$1,100
6-Apr-19	12	$6,870	11	94	10	$6,730	2	$50
30-Mar-19	15	$6,470	12	84	10	$7,91.5	5	$5,677
23-Mar-19	18	$6,450	14	91	14	$5,042	4	$1,408
16-Mar-19	14	$10,180	12	115	11	$8,800	3	$1,300
9-Mar-19	9	$1,800	6	49	8	$1,300	1	$500
2-Mar-19	20	$3,033	16	107	14	$1,817	6	$1,262
23-Feb-19	12	$2,040	8	69	9	$614.60	3	$1,430
16-Feb-19	16	$9,970	18	77	16	$9,970	0	0
9-Feb-19	14	$6,400	10	110	14	$6,400	0	0
2-Feb-19	18	$6,740	15	99	16	$5,720	2	$950
26-Jan-19	13	$2,770	11	67	11	$918.95	2	$1,850
19-Jan-19	15	$3,819	16	76	12	$2,594	3	$1,225
12-Jan-19	18	$7,283	14	92	15	$1,683	3	$5,600
5-Jan-19	10	$529	12	50	10	$529	0	0
22-Dec-18	17	$2,570	13	87	14	$941	3	$1,629
15-Dec-18	10	$2,860	8	26	8	$264	2	$2,600
8-Dec-18	15	$1,819	16	65	12	$552	3	$1,267
1-Dec-18	12	$7,500	10	90	9	$1,200	3	$6,200
28-Nov-18	15	$4,500	11	107	14	$4,000	1	$500
19-Nov-18	18	$6,137	13	98	13	$2,142	5	$3,995
14-Nov-18	18	$9,200	13	152	15	$8,500	3	$694
6-Nov-18	16	$17,300	16	183	14	$16,361	2	$950
29-Oct-18	14	$14,400	18	127	17	$13,800	1	$600
24-Oct-18	13	$6,140	13	126	11	$5,122	2	$1,018
17-Oct-18	18	$18,390	15	125	14	$12,292	4	$6,098
10-Oct-18	29	$3,149	18	104	20	$1,647	9	$819
2-Oct-18	18	$9,300	11	67	14	$7,300	4	$2,000
25-Sep-18	13	$7,000	11	75	10	$6,000	3	$995
18-Sep-18	9	$3,570	7	44	9	$3,570	0	0
11-Sep-18	13	$5,900	10	132	13	$5,900	0	0
7-Sep-18	14	$5,000	15	86	11	$4,000	3	$1,000
29-Aug-18	15	$20,700	14	79	13	$4,700	2	$16,000
20-Aug-18	10	$12,400	11	53	8	$11,380	3	$1,057
14-Aug-18	12	$19,900	12	132	9	$18,889	3	$1,011
7-Aug-18	16	$68,600	11	106	13	$67,259	3	$1,340
31-Jul-18	15	$15,100	15	95	11	$13,060	4	$2,060
23-Jul-18	13	$2,130	15	60	10	$1,804	3	$1,100
17-Jul-18	14	$5,370	17	98	9	$4,310	5	$1,100
9-Jul-18	16	$11,200	15	74	10	$11,080	6	$862
3-Jul-18	13	$7,000	7	81	12	$6,330	1	$750
25-Jun-18	15	$8,800	13	97	9	$4,970	6	$3,930
18-Jun-18	13	$14,200	14	80	7	$221	6	$14,290
11-Jun-18	12	$6,300	8	96	8	$5,910	4	$803
6-Jun-18	13	$14,500	10	88	8	$14,154	5	$579
31-May-18	11	$4,890	10	63	8	$3,240	3	$1,790
22-May-18	15	$20,400	11	63	9	$19,808	6	$885
15-May-18	15	$4,700	15	106	10	$3,900	5	$643
9-May-18	11	$1,400	13	88	9	$1,300	2	$560
1-May-18	8	$14,250	7	88	7	$13,400	1	$450
24-Apr-18	12	$5,300	6	61	11	$4,470	1	$800
17-Apr-18	9	$1,800	10	44	7	$2,330	2	$1,434
11-Apr-18	11	$2,500	8	32	6	$1,690	5	$809
3-Apr-18	15	$13,400	11	121	9	$12,020	6	$1,090
28-Mar-18	10	$4,000	10	92	7	$3,870	3	$215
19-Mar-18	17	$5,800	13	51	10	$590	7	$5,165
12-Mar-18	15	$3,130	11	43	11	$2,360	4	$788
6-Mar-18	19	$5,400	13	116	10	$1,530	9	$4,860
27-Feb-18	20	$6,600	13	69	14	$5,530	6	$1,030
19-Feb-18	15	$5,500	14	111	10	$3,990	6	$1,980
12-Feb-18	23	$10,900	17	157	12	$7,110	11	$3,840
5-Feb-18	16	$8,600	13	100	7	$1,330	9	$7,800
30-Jan-18	11	$12,600	11	68	5	$7,300	6	$4,982
24-Jan-18	19	$9,400	15	129	5	$2,010	14	$7,337
18-Jan-18	10	$6,280	8	49	2	$2,100	8	$4,188
9-Jan-18	12	$16,500	12	92	9	$15,890	3	$475
3-Jan-18	10	$2,500	9	47	8	$2,350	2	$150
27-Dec-17	15	$9,000	15	113	9	$7,568	6	$1,784
18-Dec-17	15	$13,800	16	164	9	$13,010	7	$1,118
11-Dec-17	14	$9,700	10	126	12	$2,940	4	$8,500
4-Dec-17	6	$1,800	6	31	5	$1,510	1	$300
28-Nov-17	7	$3,850	8	76	4	$3,260	3	$285
16-Nov-17	10	$2,700	10	48	6	$1,840	4	$856
8-Nov-17	15	$2,380	17	91	10	$1,860	5	$516
1-Nov-17	12	$4,700	17	94	9	$3,400	4	$1,300
23-Oct-17	15	$10,500	10	67	10	$9,780	4	$1,530
18-Oct-17	6	$2,000		37	3	$225	3	$1,820
10-Oct-17	12	$6,570		100	9	$3,880	3	$3,360
2-Oct-17	8	$3,100	11	19	3	$1,630	5	$1,750
25-Sep-17	8	$4,880	8	79	5	$2,660	5	$2,070
18-Sep-17	9	$4,770			3	$300	6	$4,470
12-Sep-17	11	$4,430			8	$2,030	3	$2,400
1-Sep-17	4	$1,310			3	$317	1	$1,000
23-Aug-17	11	$13,640	9		8	$11,840	3	$1,800

M&A/FUNDING

Keurig Dr Pepper acquires Ghost for $990M

Deal Description: Keurig Dr Pepper, the Texas-based beverage behemoth, announced Friday that it has agreed to acquire the sports energy drink and lifestyle brand Ghost. Under the deal KDP will pay $990 million in cash for a 60 percent stake in Ghost Lifestyle and Ghost Beverages, with purchase of the remaining 40 percent to follow in 2028. The Ghost brand will operate as part of KDP’s U.S. Refreshment Beverages segment, but will continue to be run by Ghost co-founders, Dan Lourenco and Ryan Hughes. Founded by Lourenco and Hughes as a muscle building supplement company in Chicago in 2016, Ghost co-marketed their whey protein powder and other supplements with popular licensed taste profiles like Oreo, Sonic and Sour Patch Kids. BofA Securities served as financial advisor to KDP with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton as legal advisor. Morgan Stanley served as financial advisor to Ghost, with Winston & Strawn acting as legal advisor. Neither firm has identified the lawyers involved. For more on the deal, see our daily coverage here.

Construction Partners Inc. to acquire Lone Star Paving for $950M

Deal Description: Construction Partners Inc., an Alabama infrastructure company specializing in roadway construction, announced Oct. 21 its agreement to acquire Asphalt, Inc., a construction materials provider doing business as Lone Star Paving in Austin. Under terms of the agreement, CPI will acquire Lone Star for $654 million in cash along with three million shares of CPI. Cost of the transaction is valued at a total of $950 million. Lone Star operates 10 hot-mix asphalt plants, four aggregate facilities, one liquid asphalt cement terminal and performs infrastructure construction projects throughout central Texas. Lone Star primarily serves the Austin, San Antonio and Temple-Killeen metropolitan areas, adding three major road construction markets to the CPI geographic imprint.

Financial Advisors to Lone Star: Wells Fargo

Lone Star Legal Counsel: ArentFox Schiff

CPI Legal Counsel: Haynes Boone with a deal team led by Austin-based partner Kellie Bobo, with support from associates Bryan Diebels, Rachael Williams, Taylor Calvert and Dillon Sebasco. Deal financing was led by partners Sakina Foster and Paul Amiel with support from associates Laura Shapiro, Sara Phipps and Serena Heydari. Securities law matters were overseen by partners Rosebud Nau and Greg Samuel, with support from associates Rachel O’Donnell and Alexa Cooper.

Deal Description: Sophos announced Oct. 21 that it has agreed to acquire Secureworks, developers of the Taegis SaaS-based data security platform in an all-cash transaction valued at $859 million. Pure play cybersecurity provider Sophos, headquartered in the UK, is backed by Thoma Bravo. Secureworks, based in Atlanta, is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies. Sophos aims to integrate the Secureworks platform with its own operations to create a broader security portfolio benefiting a wide range of new offerings in identity detection and response (ITDR), next-gen SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) capabilities, operational technology (OT) security, and enhanced vulnerability risk prioritization. Under terms of the agreement Sophos will pay $8.50 per share to all shareholders, including Dell, which amounts to a 28 percent premium over the 90-day volume-weighted average price.

Financial Advisors to Sophos: Goldman Sachs, Barclays, BofA Securities, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. and UBS Investment Bank

Financial Advisors to Secureworks: Piper Sandler and Morgan Stanley

Sophos Outside Legal Counsel: Kirkland & Ellis with a team led from Chicago by partners Brad Reed and Steven Page with lawyers from California, London and New York.

Secureworks Outside Legal Counsel: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Dell Outside Legal Counsel: Skadden led from New York by M&A partners Allison Schneirov and Brett Fleisher and supported by colleagues in Palo Alto.

Bigtincan to merge with SPAC at $275M value

Deal Description: Bigtincan, Australian providers of sales contact and customer experience software platforms Bigtincan and Brainshark, announced Oct. 21 that it is taking the SPAC route to listing on Nasdaq via a merger with blank check firm Investcorp AI Acquisition Corp. Bigtincan Holdings Limited is, according to SEC filings, an Australian company headquartered in Sydney and traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The transaction values Bigtincan at $275 million and will result in Bigtincan stockholders owning 75 percent of the company. The SPAC has endured several iterations since it was first formed as Investcorp Acquisition Corp. in February 2021. It issued its $225 million IPO as Investcorp India Acquisition Corp. May 2022. The SPAC made several extensions to its statutory deadline before settling on terms for the combination with Bigtincan. And as part of the agreement its sponsor, Bahrain-based Investcorp, has pledged a $12.5 million investment into Bigtincan which will be used, in part, to help fund SPAC stockholder redemptions. The merger is expected to close in early 2025.

Bigtincan Outside Legal Counsel: A&O Shearman led from Dallas by partners Alain Dermarkar and Bobby Cardone with Thomas Mastoras and Bill Nelson along with Michael Walraven, John Kurtz, Garrett Engel, Dillon Tan, Mark Leemen, John Menke, Edward Ren, Larry Crouch, John Hibbard and Michael Buiteweg.

Investcorp AI Outside Legal Counsel: Winston & Strawn led from Houston by partner Mike Blankenship, with associates Jon Bodle, Jacob Botros, John Niedzwiecki and Alexandra Santana.

Rollstack attracts $11M in Series A Funding

Deal Description: Rollstack, providers of a business software platform that automates the creation and updates of slide decks and documents, announced Oct. 21 $11 million in Series A funding led by Insight Partners with Y Combinator, its existing investor. The new funds will be used to develop new AI-driven tools to deal with mundane data wrangling tasks often necessary — copy-pasting, screen shots, data entry, etc. — for display or analysis on applications like Tableau, Looker, Excel and PowerPoint. Aside from Insight Partners and Y-Combinator, Rollstack has attracted Angel investors that have included BlackRock, Microsoft and Pinterest. Both Insight Partners and Rollstack are headquartered in New York City.

Insight Partners Outside Legal Counsel: Willkie Farr & Gallagher led from New York by Matthew Haddad with assistance from associate Joe Laurel in Houston.

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure acquires co-ownership of Flexential

Deal Description: Flexential, operators of more than 40 data centers across the U.S., announced Oct. 21 an undisclosed strategic investment from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners that gives it co-control with current owners GI Partners. The investment is intended to accelerate Flexential’s growth beyond its 325 megawatts capacity both current and under-development, in anticipation of a surge of dataspace made necessary for the development and hyperscale utilizations of artificial intelligence. Based in Charlotte, N.C., Flexential offers customized high-density computing solutions, colocation, cloud storage, data protection and other IT services across 19 markets on a 100Gbps network backbone.

Financial Advisors to Flexential/GI Partners: Goldman Sachs

Financial Advisors to MSIP: Citi, Evercore

Flexential Outside Legal Counsel: Ropes & Gray

MSIP Outside Legal Counsel: Kirkland & Ellis with a team led by partners Kevin Crews in Dallas and Adam Larson in Houston, along with partners KJ Pedersen and Jordan Rex in Dallas, Brad Johnson, Ian Hesterly and Sarah Walden; debt finance lawyers Lucas Spivey and Kelly Mellecker; executive compensation lawyer Rob Fowler; employment & labor lawyer Christie Alcala; tax lawyer David Wheat; environmental transactions lawyer Jon Kidwell; energy regulatory lawyer Drew Stuyvenberg; real estate lawyer David Stanek; capital markets lawyer Jennifer Wu; and antitrust & competition lawyer Derek Yee.

Double B Foods acquired by Florida investors

Deal Description: The Anderson Group, a PE investor based in St. Petersburg, Fla., announced Oct. 17 its acquisition of Double B Foods, a Texas-based manufacturer of hand-held foods for food services and private labels. With headquarters in Arlington, and facilities in Meridian and Irving, Double B produces portion-controlled, ready-to-cook appetizers, snacks and desserts to specification. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed, but the purpose of the investment was to provide capital for expansion of the company’s food forms, menu selections and taste profiles.

Financial Advisors to Double B Foods: City Capital Advisors; Cherry Bekaert (on tax)

Double B Outside Legal Counsel: O’Melveny & Myers led by Dallas partners Jack Jacobsen and Will Becker, senior counsel Warren Fox, counsel Kelsey French, and associates Sarah Nelson and Eleanor Dunn.

Anderson Outside Legal Counsel: Taft Stettinius & Hollister

CAPITAL MARKETS/CREDIT

SPAC Charlton Aria Acquisition Corp. debuts IPO at $75M

Deal Description: Special purpose acquisition company Charlton Aria Acquisition Corp. announced pricing of its initial public offering of 7.5 million shares at $10 per share for a total issue of $75 million. The bookrunner/underwriter is Clear Street, which has been granted the right to purchase an additional 1.125 million shares within 45 days of closing on Oct. 25. The SPAC sponsor, ST Sponsor II Limited, holds more than 92 percent of the shares. The sponsor’s sole officer and director is Sunny Tan Kah Wei, described in submissions to the SEC as a Malaysian investor and former CEO of a semiconductor manufacturing solutions provider. No specific business sector is described as a target for a potential merger partner.

Charlton Aria Outside Legal Counsel: Robinson & Cole

Underwriters/Bookrunner: Clear Street

Clear Street Outside Legal Counsel: Winston & Strawn with a team led from Houston by partner Mike Blankenship with partner Robine Morrison, counsel Ben Smolij, associate Robbie Oakes in Houston and associate Jeremy Spankowski in Chicago.