CDT Roundup: 14 Deals, 12 Firms, 139 Lawyers, $2.1B

A presidential election means change. And change is good, unless it isn’t.

By any reasonable metric, one signature piece of bipartisan post-pandemic legislation, the CHIPS and Science Act, has been successful in delivering the kind of incentives that is driving private investment in one of the most essential building blocks for the coming age of AI.

So, what’s the problem? For one thing, the president-elect, apparently, isn’t a fan of the program. In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan barely a week before the election, Donald Trump said as much:

“That chip deal is so bad, we put up billions of dollars for rich companies to come in and borrow the money and build chip companies here. And they’re not going to give us the good companies anyway. All you had to do is charge them tariffs. If you were to put a tariff on the chips coming in, you would have been able to. Just like the auto companies. No different. More sophisticated, but no different.“

You can see why some might be worried.

Along with the migrant manufacturers from Europe and Asia who already hold vast investments in the U.S. — the Samsungs, Infinons, Soulbrains and NXPs — there are the U.S. brands, along with their investors and lenders — Intel, Micron, Texas Instruments, Western Digital, etc.  — who are already investing billions to develop the same kind of independence in chip manufacturing that the nation now enjoys in the energy sector. And like the energy sector, Texas is heavily involved.

The Texas connections began almost immediately after the CHIPS Act was signed in August 2022. One of the first deals announced was a novel joint venture between Intel and Brookfield Infrastructure Fund to spend $32 billion to build chip manufacturing facilities in Arizona. Houston partners Andrew Calder and Doug Bacon along with a small army of lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis advised Brookfield on the deal. But that was just a beginning.

Since then, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association, at least $448 billion has already been pledged from private sources to build, expand or modernize 90 factories (fabs) in the U.S. that will, or already do, manufacture semiconductor chips or the materials to make them.

In Texas, Samsung is spending $45 billion on two new fabs, an R&D facility and an advanced packaging facility in Williamson County, along with an expansion of their chip-making presence in Austin. NXP plans a $2.6 billion semiconductor plant in Austin and Netherlands chip-maker Infineon is planning their own fab there.

Elsewhere, Dallas-based Texas Instruments is investing $30 billion on four new fabs in Sherman (not to mention $6 billion to expand their Richardson facility). Also in Sherman, Taiwan’s GlobalWafers has committed $5 billion to produce silicon wafers used in the manufacture of semiconductor chips.

In all, at least $89 billion is already being spent on 10 semiconductor-related facilities in Texas. And even outside Texas — in Lehi, Utah — Texas Instruments plans to spend yet another $11 billion on yet another fab.

But none of this quantifies the many more billions to be spent on the downstream benefits of all that investment — the vast infrastructure to support the needs of an increasingly digitized society: the computer parts manufacturers, the advanced software designers, the data storage facilities and data processing centers — not to mention the limitless energy needed for all of the above.

But maybe, just maybe, the angst is all for naught. The CHIPS Act has its fans, even at the conservative Heritage Foundation. In its Mandate for Leadership — also known as “Project 2025” — there resides the suggestion that the importance of these projects will not be rejected out of hand.

On page 59, which includes its review of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the report notes:

“Recent legislation, especially the CHIPS and Science Act, has expanded federal policy and funding across the enterprise, and there is a need for more sig­nificant leadership in this area both to ensure effectiveness and to avoid duplication of effort.“

More to the point, on page 790, under a bulleted list of 22 policies they recommend, Heritage suggests the new administration should “strongly consider” a policy that would:

“Systematically reduce and eventually eliminate any U.S. dependence on Communist Chinese supply chains that may be used to threaten national security such as medicines, silicon chips, rare earth minerals, computer motherboards, flatscreen displays, and military components.“

The sounds exactly like something the CHIPS Act was designed to address.

There was lots of action during election week with 14 deals reported for total reported aggregate value of $2.1 billion dollars. That pales, of course, against last week’s 12 deals for $52.7 billion or even the 15 transactions for $9.8 billion reported this time last year.

In case you’re wondering, it’s actually better than our report after the election week of 2020. During that pandemic-burdened presidential election week we saw 14 transactions for a reported $864.1 million. For the record, the CDT Roundup reads absolutely nothing into that.

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

Pelican Energy closes Base Zero nuclear energy fund at $450M

Deal Description: Houston’s Pelican Energy Partners announced Nov. 4 the closing of its Pelican Energy Partners Base Zero LP at $450 million. The fund is to be focused on control buyout and growth investments in nuclear energy services and equipment companies. Funding commitments came from endowments, foundations, family offices and pension plans. Base Zero is committed to growing and improving nuclear services companies. Nuclear energy accounts for more than 20% of U.S. electricity and nearly 50% of U.S. carbon-free electricity, both of which are central to meeting the dual objective of base load reliability and de-carbonization. As of the final close date, the fund had completed six platform investments with several additional opportunities expected to close prior to year’s end.

Financial Advisor/Placement Agent: Calpa Partners

Calpa Outside Legal Counsel: Kirkland & Ellis led by investment funds partner Ian Jelsma (Houston), associate Alex Albert (New York) and associate Misha Checkovich (Houston); tax partner Adam Nguyen (Austin) and associate Grant Michael Newman (Houston); investment funds regulatory partner Xiao-Hong Jing and Natalia Pszenny (both New York); investment funds ERISA partner Sabrina Glaser (New York) and associate Theodore Brown (Chicago); and government, regulatory & internal investigations lawyer Nick Niles (Chicago).

Diamondback trades Delaware Basin assets + $238M for Midland Basin assets

Deal Description: On Nov. 3, Diamondback Energy announced its acquisition of 15,000 acres in the Midland Basin from Houston’s TRP Energy in exchange for 33,000 acres in the Delaware Basin and $238 million in cash. Having closed its merger with Endeavor Energy on September 10, Diamondback CEO Travis Stice said the integration of Endeavor operations had been a “seamless integration” reducing anticipated drill and completion costs below target and ahead of schedule. In a letter to stockholders Stice said the company’s new acreage footprint granted the flexibility to “play offense in our backyard” by swapping the Vermejo acreage, a PDP-heavy petroleum in the Delaware Basin, for a Midland asset with “more near-term development potential.”

TRP Outside Legal Counsel: Clifford Chance led from Houston by partner David Sweeney and counsel Joclynn Marsh with support from associates Melissa Sanchez, Thomas Shattuck and Matt Mouer. The CC team also included tax partner Todd Lowther in Houston and associates Jihyun Lee and Milica Pavlovic in New York; antitrust partner Jospeh Ostoyich in Washington, D.C.; environment partner Ty’Meka Reeves Sobers and associate Hannah Ebersole in Houston, and ERISA partner Paul Koppel and associate David Walsh in New York.

UAE J/V acquires 95% stake in Drilling Well Services for $233M

Deal Description: UAE-based Enersol, a joint venture between ADNOC Drilling and Alpha Dhabi Holding, announced Nov. 4 its agreement to acquire a 95 percent stake in Deep Well Services for $233 million. Based in Pennsylvania and founded in 2008, DWS-driven drilling programs feature HCUs (Hydraulic Completion Units) designed for high-pressure, long lateral and multi-well completion operations enabled by its software analytics program known as BoreSite. Its services have been utilized by more than 70 E&P companies in the Middle East, South America and major basins in the U.S. and North America, in both conventional and unconventional operations.

Enersol Outside Legal Counsel: King & Spalding led by partners Matt Hartsuyker in Abu Dhabi, along with Jonathan Newton and Mitch Tiras in Houston. The team also included M&A partner Simon Fraser in Abu Dhabi, corporate finance partner Jake Downing in Chicago, HR compliance partner Sydney Lampard in Washington, D.C., corporate finance partner Jill McWhirter in Houston, with senior associate Andrew Ketner in Houston, associate Chris Travis in Abu Dhabi, Erin Horan Mendez in Houston, patent agent Austin Sanders in Raleigh, senior associate Karen Shriver in Atlanta and associate Jamie Kershaw in Dubai.

Nektar Therapeutics sells biopharma producer to Ampersand Capital for $90M

Deal Description: Biotech firm Nektar Therapeutics announced Nov. 4 that it has agreed to sell is reagent supply business to Ampersand Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. The $90 million price tag includes $70 million in cash and $20 million of equity. The target is a 124K sf reagent manufacture and supply located in Huntsville, Ala. The facility produces PEGylated polymer chain reagents for the production of biotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of underlying immunological dysfunctions frequently found in connection with autoimmune conditions and chronic inflammation issues. The process typically helps attach polyethylene glycol (PEG) to peptides and proteins to ensure the attachment of therapeutic agents to their targets and increase their efficiency. The sale is expected to close by Dec. 2. Nektar is based in San Francisco.

Financial Advisor to Nektar: UBS Investment Bank

Outside Legal Advisor to Nektar: Sidley Austin with a team led from Century City by M&A partner Daniel Belke and life sciences partner Joshua Hofheimer. The team included Dallas-based life sciences partner Lauren Grau, as well as managing associate Tommy Tsao and associate Sabrina Glavota in Century City.

Outside Legal Advisor to Ampersand: Goodwin Procter

U.S. Physical Therapy acquires 50% stake in NY therapy management firm

Deal Description: On Oct. 31, U.S. Physical Therapy announced the close of its $76.5 million acquisition of a 50 percent stake in MSO Metro, a provider of management and administrative services to physical therapy clinics across the U.S. Founded in 1982, MSO Metro is one of the largest physical therapy platforms in the Northeast, managing 50 outpatient clinics mainly in New York.

USPT Outside Legal Counsel: Porter Hedges with a team led from Houston by partners Kevin Poli and Allison Pearce with assistance from Geoff Schultz and Jason Lloyd.

Teledyne to take Micropac Industries private for $53.7M

Deal Description: Teledyne Technologies announced Nov. 4 its agreement to purchase Garland-based Micropac Industries, a producer of microcircuits and electronic assemblies, sensors and other products for the military and aerospace industries. Under terms of the take-private transaction Teledyne would pay $20 per share for all of Micropac’s outstanding shares. The deal is valued at $53.7 million, including Teledyne’s assumption of Micropac debt. Teledyne is located in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Micropac was founded in 1963 as Farsi Industries by William Horsman.

Financial Advisor to Micropac: Mesirow Financial

Outside Legal Counsel to Micropac: Haynes Boone led from Dallas and Denver by partners Tom Harris and Dan Malone with support from associates Joshua Reisman in Denver and Ryan Ward and Ethan Moore in Dallas. The team also include partners Susan Wetzel and Scott Thompson along with associate Isabella Blanes on benefits and compensation, partner Raquel Alvarenga on labor and employment and partner Don Shiman in New York and counsel Danielle Marr in Dallas on tax issues.

Outside Counsel to Teledyne: McGuireWoods

Note: The deal is the fourth this year for Haynes Boone involving aviation manufacturing: Applied Avionics in its $385 million sale to Loar Group; the Satcom Direct sale to Gogo Inc. for $600 million and the sale of Erickson Incorporated to Helicopter Express.

Trinity Hunt-backed Improving acquires South American software developers

Deal Description: Dallas-based digital services company Improving announced Oct. 31 its acquisition of Leniolabs_, a collaborative software development firm that specializes in custom opensource data projects leveraging Latin American developers in Chile and Argentina. Backed by Trinity Hunt Partners Improving has, with the Leniolabs_ acquisition, extended its international presence to include 17 offices across the US, Canada, with nearshore development offices in Mexico, Argentina and Chile. Founded in 2013, Leniolabs_ has established a broad clientele in the Bay Area utilizing backend, frontend, and data technologies with agile methodologies to augment Silicon Valley development teams.

Improving Outside Legal Counsel: Kirkland & Ellis with a team led from Dallas by partner Thomas Laughlin and corporate associate Brad Johnson with partners Lucas Spivey in Houston on debt finance and Dallas/Houston partner David Wheat on tax.

Covia Energy, Black Mountain Sand merge to become Oak Energy Solutions

Deal Description: Houston’s Covia Energy and Fort Worth-based Black Mountain Sand Holdings announced Nov. 4 the completion of their merger in an all-stock transaction. The combined company, now operating as Iron Oak Energy Solutions, is sponsored by Anchorage Capital Advisors (New York City), Golden Gate Capital (San Francisco), and NGP Energy Capital Management (Dallas). As now merged, Iron Oak becomes a leading national supplier of proppants with an annual production of approximately 30 million tons of frac sand mined from locations in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, along with premium Northern White Sand facilities in Wedron, Ill., and Tunnel City, Wis. Both Northern White Sand facilities have direct rail access to major producing areas in the Marcellus, Utica, Bakken and DJ basins. The company will be headquartered in Houston with a satellite presence in Fort Worth. Covia’s Michael Segura will serve as president and CEO of Iron Oak with former Black Mountain CEO serving as a strategic advisor and a member of the Iron Oak board.

Financial Advisor to Covia: TPH&Co, the energy business of Perella Weinberg Partners.

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

Black Mountain Outside Legal Counsel: A Vinson & Elkins team was led from Houston by partners Matt Strock and Nettie Downs and Dallas by senior associate John Sager, with assistance from associates Kelly McGovern in Dallas, Shelby Shearer and Farzin Khoshravan, both in Houston. Other key team members include partner Bryan Loocke, counsel Megan Menniti and associate Jake Silver in Washington D.C. andassociate Jack Peterson in Dallas (corporate); partner John Lynch and associate Keleigh Carver in Houston (tax); partner Sarah Mitchell, senior associate Victoria Bahrami-Negad in Dallas and associate Maham Shahzad in Austin (insurance); partner Sean Becker and associates Peter Goetschel and Jordan Peck in Houston (employment/labor); partner Shane Tucker and associate Matt Green in Dallas and associate Morgan Whittlesey in Houston (executive compensation/benefits); partner Prentiss Cutshaw and counsel Scot Dixon in Dallas, with senior associate Catherine Callahan in Houston and associate Molly Ellisor in Dallas (real estate); partner Matthew Dobbins and associate Alexis Boyd in Houston and Alyssa Sieja in Washington, D.C. (environmental); partners Hill Wellford and Kara Kuritz and associate Alex Rant in Washington, D.C. (antitrust); counsel Rajesh Patel in Houston and associate Haley Titcomb in Austin (intellectual property); counsel Elizabeth Krabill McIntyre and Brian Howard in Washington, D.C. (litigation).

Trinity Hunt-backed NexCore to acquire NY HVAC DWC Mechanical

Deal Description: NexCore, an HVAC services investment platform backed by Dallas-based Trinity Hunt Partners, announced Oct. 31 its acquisition of DWC Mechanical Inc., a commercial HVAC services company based in Buffalo, N.Y. Employees and management at DWC will remain in place. DWC is NexCore’s fifth acquisition in 2024 and its third in the New York market. No terms of the deal were announced.

NexCore Outside Legal Counsel: Kirkland & Ellis led from Dallas by partners Thomas Laughlin with the help of associates Bridget Ryan Hamway and Sarah Walden, also from Dallas. The team also included Houston corporate finance partner Lucas Spivey in Houston with partners David Wheat in Dallas and Jon Nelsen in Austin on tax issues.

CCS J/V created; first offshore lease signed for Corpus Christi project

Deal Description: Japanese sogo sosha Mitsui, Spanish multinational Repsol and Houston-based Carbonvert Inc. announced Nov. 4 their formation of a joint venture to pursue large-scale carbon capture and sequestration, signing a first contract with the Texas General Land Office for pore space in the Corpus Christi CO₂ offshore lease. The joint venture, known as “Aves,” is owned 45 percent by Repsol, 45 percent by Carbonvert and 10 percent by Mitsui affiliate MEP Low Carbon Solutions. The Texas School Land Board approved the award of offshore leases in Port Aransas North and Mustang Island for subsurface storage of CO₂ over more than 140,000 gross acres. The Aves carbon storage project is located in close proximity to more than 35 million metric tons per year of existing industrial emissions within 100 miles of the storage sites and more than 20 million metric tons per year of greenfield project emissions are anticipated in the same area by 2035.

Mitsui Outside Legal Counsel: Norton Rose Fulbright with a team led from Austin by partner Becky Diffen and Luke Edney with associate Erin Mitchell in Houston. The team also included partner Mac Marshall (Houston), counsel Bob Greenslade (Denver), partner Hilary Lefko (Washington, D.C.), senior associate Gabrielle Jacques (New York) and associate Lauren Thomas (Austin).

Alterian Investment Partners acquires Outlook Group

Deal Description: Aterian Investment Partners announced Nov. 5 its acquisition of Outlook Group, a provider of pressure sensitive labels and packaging. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed. Founded in 1977 and based in Neenah, Wis., Outlook provides labels and packaging — folding boxes, cartons and flexible bagging — for such brands as Oscar Mayer, Gain, Swiss Miss and Bounce. Outlook has two locations in Wisconsin and approximately 260 employees.

Financial Advisors to Arterian: PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Perella Weinberg Partners

Arterian Outside Legal Counsel: Weil, Gotshal & Manges led from New York by partner Christopher Machera with tax advice from Dallas from partner Jonathan Macke and associate Griffin Baker and banking & finance counsel from Dallas with partner Vynessa Nemunaitis, counsel Angel Torres and associate Angela Estrada.

SMA Technologies acquires fintec Encapture

Deal Description: Houston-based fintec SMA Technologies announced Nov. 6, its acquisition of Encapture, a provider of document auto-processing software backed by Alturus Capital. SMA says Encapture’s life-cycle document management solutions will enhance its own OpCon workload management system, particularly in the areas of loan origination and compliance. “Encapture’s expertise in document processing, loan origination and compliance will perfectly complement our offerings, allowing us to deliver even greater efficiency for our clients across the front and back office,” said SMA CEO Todd Dauchy. Encapture is a dba of Dallas-headquartered Imagine Solutions. SMA Technologies is a dba of Unisoft International Inc. and is backed by PE Thoma Bravo.

Thoma Bravo/SMA Tecnologies Outside Legal Counsel: Kirkland & Ellis led from Austin by partners John Kaercher and Kelly King with Chicago partner Corey Fox; debt finance lawyers Brian Ford in Los Angeles, Erik Hepler in New York and Matthew Demopoulos in Dallas; and tax lawyers Adam Kool in New York and Steven Cantor in Washington, D.C.

Alturus/Imagine Outside Legal Counsel: A&O Shearman led from Dallas by partners Kyle Park and Alain Dermarkar with Efren Lemus and Elizabeth Robishaw.

Capital Markets/Credit

Direct ChassisLink offeres $500M in second secured notes

Deal Description: Direct ChassisLink Inc. announced the Oct. 31 close of its offering of $500 million in high-yield 7.750 percent secured second lien notes due 2029. DCLI is one of the largest providers of domestic and marine containers in the U.S. with an operating fleet of 290,000 intermodal units available for rental near key ports and railroad terminals. It was acquired for $3.6 billion in December 2022 by a consortium of affiliates of GIC Infrastructure, OMERS Infrastructure and Wren House Infrastructure. Fitch Ratings assigned a ‘BB’ (EXP) rating last month to the expected issue, describing DCLI as “a market leader in the container chassis leasing sector, with an estimated two-thirds market share in the domestic 53′ segment and approximately one-fifth in the marine segment.”

DCLI Outside Legal Counsel: Sidley Austin led by capital markets partner Johnny Skumpija in New York and partner Angela Fontana in Dallas with partner Sean Damm (Dallas); senior managing associate John Stribling (Houston); managing associate Reid McKinney (Dallas); associate Alexander Waddell (Dallas); tax partner Angela Richards (Houston) with senior managing associate Kayla West, and associates Gabriella Tang, Adi Milstein, Gavin Tan, Isabella Russo-Tiesi and managing associate Alvin Wang, all in New York.

GSR III Acquisition Corp. prices SPAC IPO at $200M

Deal Description: GSR III Acquisition Corporation — an Austin-based, Cayman Islands-registered blank check company backed by a group of inveterate SPAC investors — announced the pricing of its IPO at $200 million. The sponsor, GSR Sponsor was formed in April 2023 and includes a management team that has advised on 25 SPAC offerings since 2020. Three GSR III officers and directors are managing partners in SPAC Advisory Partners, described in the GSR III prospectus as a “boutique advisory firm co-founded by Gus Garcia, Lewis Silberman and Anantha Ramamurti. SPAC Advisory Partners is serving as sole book-running manager for the issue. Because of the conflict-of-interest involved, B Riley Securities is acting as independent underwriter for the issue. The stock, which opened trading on the Nasdaq Friday, closed at $9.98 per share.

GSR III Outside Legal Counsel: Latham & Watkins led from Los Angeles by partner Steven Stokdyk.

Underwriter: SPAC Advisory Partners and B Riley Securities (independent underwriter — see deal description above)

SPAC Advisory Partners Outside Legal Counsel: Winston & Strawn led by Houston partner Mike Blankenship with associate Jeremy Jaewon Chang in New York and associates Hannah Miller, Robert Oakes and Pete Staviski in Houston.

Late arrivals and other matters…

Second Nature Brands, a Michigan-headquartered provider of snack foods and treats backed by CapVest Partners, announced Oct. 22 its acquisition of the Voortman cookie brand from The J.M. Smucker Co. Smucker valued the all-cash transaction at $305 million. Willkie Farr & Gallagher tells us London partner David Arnold and Houston partner Ryan Giggs advised Second Nature on the deal.

Winston & Strawn advised Georgia-based Specialty Building Products an Oct. 15 issue of $510 million in 7.750 percent senior secured notes. The Winston team was led by Houston partner Justin Hoffman and included Houston associate Allan Jeanjaquet.

In addition to the SMA/Encapture deal (above) Dallas A&O Shearman partners Alain Dermarkar and Kyle Park advised with Simon Burrows in London on the Cumming Group, a UK-based project consultancy, acquisition of CLoSE UK which closed Oct. 14. Dallas associate Emily Kelly was also involved with A&O Shearman’s international team.

Gray Reed continued its efforts to move multi-family dwellings and health care operations off the books on behalf of the receiver appointed in Fannie Mae v. Amelia Aid Propco. The firm announced last week that Dallas partner Rachel Poynter and associate Emily Bowlin helped move two healthcare facilities, Dorset Place in Oklahoma City and Wayman Place in Longwood, Fla., in the Washington, D.C. case. Gray Reed is acting on behalf the receiver Michael Flanagan in the case, which involves the disposition of more than $700 million in loans against 125 multi-family and healthcare facilities nationwide.

Siemens announced the $10.6 billion acquisition of Altair Engineering. Headquartered in Troy, Mich., Altair specializes in the development of simulation software and artificial intelligence. Although Siemens is based in Munich, Siemens Digital Industries Software — a Siemens affiliate expected to benefit from the acquisition — is located in the Dallas suburb of Plano. Latham & Watkins advised Siemens on the deal from their New York and Washington, D.C., offices. But Houston counsel Robert Brown pitched in on data privacy matters; Davis Polk & Wardwell and Lowenstein Sandler advised Altair on the deal. Neither firm has lawyers in Texas.