© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(May 28) – Jones Day announced yesterday that it boosted its M&A practice with the additions of Jeff Dinerstein and Arthur Nathan to its Houston office. Both lawyers come from Haynes and Boone, where Dinerstein was co-head of its M&A practice and Nathan served on its board of directors from 2002 to 2012.
Dinerstein and Nathan say Jones Day’s collaborative culture and commitment to client service are among the reasons they decided to join the firm.
“We believe that Jones Day is a major market player in the M&A world and will have an even bigger role in Houston,” said Nathan, a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. “You want to be around that level of activity.”
Both lawyers emphasized the importance of Jones Day being an integrated international firm.
“Our clients were very receptive to this,” said Dinerstein, who has experience representing private equity funds and portfolio companies in the acquisitions and sales of their businesses. “Jones Day’s reputation precedes itself worldwide.”
In a deal that closed last December, Dinerstein and Nathan represented Houston-based international energy services company Wood Group in its acquisition of Elkhorn Holdings Inc., a Wyoming-based provider of construction services for midstream oil and gas facilities in the U.S. shale market. Nathan said the deal involved very interesting tax and employee benefits issues.
Nathan believes his new firm, which has a significant presence in Mexico and Latin America, is well-positioned for what he predicts will be an increase in the number of cross-border deals between the U.S. and Mexico as a result of its energy reform.
In 2011, Dinerstein represented Houston-based oil field services company Tri-Star Protector (TSP) in its sale to JMH Capital, a Boston-based private equity firm. Two years later, Dinerstein was involved again when JMH Capital sold TSP to Caplugs, a portfolio company of Windjammer Capital Investors LLC. This time, he represented TSP on local issues and TSP’s former owner, who retained partial ownership after the 2011 deal.
“It was great to see my client benefit financially twice,” said Dinerstein, who is seeing more private equity firms looking for transactions in Texas.
In another transaction the two new Jones Day partners worked on together, they represented Houston-based Air Routing, a global provider of trip support services for business aircraft flight operations, in its 2009 sale to Iowa-based Rockwell Collins for almost $100 million. Nathan had represented Air Routing and its four owners since 1977.
Outside of his private practice, Dinerstein helped start the Fire Fighters Foundation of Houston, the first foundation in the city to provide non-governmental funding to its fire fighters and to help bridge the gap between what the city can afford and what the public servants need.
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