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Prominent legal and investigative journalist Allen Pusey is a senior editor and writer at The Texas Lawbook.
Prior to joining The Lawbook, Pusey was the editor and publisher of the ABA Journal, which is the nation’s largest circulation legal publication. Before his decade with the Journal, Pusey spent 26 years as a reporter and editor at The Dallas Morning News, where he was a special projects editor and covered the Supreme Court of the United States.
A former director at the Center for Public Integrity, Pusey brings extraordinary experience and knowledge of the legal industry to The Texas Lawbook. Our readers are now the beneficiaries of his amazing talent as a writer and editor.
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Seeking to expand its presence in the surge of data center development, Quanta Services, a Houston-based platform for industrial energy and power services, announced Thursday the completion of its acquisition of mechanical and plumbing specialists Dynamics Services for $1.35 billion. King & Spalding advised on the deal.
The week ending July 26 saw 15 transactions for just over $3 billion, which doesn't sound like much. The volume is akin to the week before, in which 14 deals were reported for $6 billion. But both pale against the 19 transactions for $16.4 billion reported last year. The plain truth is that transactions in M&A dwindled in Q2 and have stayed dwindled in the first few weeks of Q3. But take heart; Q2 was the weakest quarter in Texas M&A deals last year and the year before. But there was plenty of diversity in the mix.
The week ending July 18 saw 14 deals for $6 billion dollars. The week prior saw 15 deals for $13 billion and there were 15 deals for $16 billion reported during the same week last year. But consider the actual deals and you begin to sense a difference: a $25 billion data center deal that probably will be but really isn't yet; a flurry of placements aimed at flipping the switch on crypto assets; an IPO for a Japanese AI-driven HR platform whose goal is to be a lawyer.
Last week, notable transactions included a $9.8 billion AI platform deal, $1.3 billion in two deals by Mach Resources and the sale of The Dallas Morning News to Hearst. The week ending July 12 saw 15 deals valued at just over $13 billion dollars. The week prior, there were nine deals for $15.8 billion and this time last year there were 20 deals for $17.2 billion.
In an all-cash, take-private deal valued at $74.9 million, The Dallas Morning News announced Thursday that it has agreed to join the Hearst Corporation, whose national chain of 28 daily newspapers will soon include the dailies of Texas' four most populous cities. Outside legal advisors on the deal include Haynes Boone for DallasNews and Clifford Chance for Hearst. Jeff Chapman of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher advised Robert W. Decherd, DallasNews’ majority shareholder and former chairman.
Chevron’s $53 billion acquisition of Hess remains in limbo despite FTC approval, which barred the son of Hess’ founder from a Chevron board seat due to antitrust concerns and alleged OPEC collusion. The merger’s fate hinges on an arbitration decision that could be announced soon with ExxonMobil over Hess’ stake in Guyana’s lucrative Stabroek Block. Meanwhile, CITGO, formerly Venezuelan-owned, saw a new winning bid in a Delaware court auction to settle expropriation claims.
Winburne was global head of the energy and infrastructure group at Orrick where he worked for more than nine years. He has been named co-chair of Willkie's energy and infrastructure practice.
Weil and Alston & Bird are advising on the acquisition of the Georgia-based building supply distributor. The acquisition is being made through Home Depot's McKinney-based subsidiary SRS Distribution, which was acquired last year for $18.25 billion.
For the week ending June 28, there were a dozen deals valued at nearly $7.8 billion: six in M&A and funding; six in capital markets and credit. But rather than compare that with last week's 16 deals for $6 billion or the 14 deals for $6.3 billion this time last year, let's compare these deals with each other. All in all, it was a curiously complicated week.
Kirkland and Akin advised on the combination of two Houston distributors of infrastructure machinery and supplies to create a $3 billion company with 350 service and distribution centers across 20 energy-producing countries.
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