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Claire Poole is a senior writer at The Texas Lawbook, where she covers corporate transactions.
Claire Poole is a business writer based in Houston. She previously was a senior writer at The Deal, where she spent 16 years covering mergers and acquisitions, private equity and investing in the energy sector. Before The Deal, she worked as a reporter and staff writer at Forbes, was editor of El Financiero International and Mexico Business and was a contributing editor at LatinTrade. She also contributed articles to Money, Worth, BusinessWeek and Texas Monthly.
Claire’s email is claire.poole@texaslawbook.net.
At the top of the most active private equity performers during the first quarter of 2023 was Ares Management, according to recent rankings by PitchBook. The CDT Roundup this week looks at the part played by Texas firms in Ares' activity over the last year or so. That, of course, comes with the weekly roster of firms and lawyers who are reporting deals in what is a less-than-shiny market.
With oil prices both up and stable Bryan Loocke of Vinson & Elkins has been as busy as any Houston energy lawyer. The CDT Roundup decided it was time to Q&A him: about his most recent deals, renewables and what he sees happening over the rest of the year. You can even learn what he's been reading, along with the usual list of firms and names of the lawyers who reported their deals last week.
Adding the dealmaking attorneys is part of Winston's strategy to further bolster its energy-focused ranks.
While the economy is encountering stress in some areas, some firms are reporting high levels of activity for their Texas corporate lawyers during the first months of 2023. One of them is Dykema, and the Corporate Deal Tracker Roundup this week peeks at what their five Texas locations have been up to. Of course, it wouldn't be a roundup without rounding up the names of lawyers and firms that reported 20 deals worth $3.3 billion last week. There was even an IPO sighting — and a standard IPO at that.
This being Year Three of the Covid 19 pandemic, technically speaking/writing, it may come as no surprise that healthcare deals are becoming a thing, even in Texas. The Corporate Deal Tracker counted 55 Texas-related healthcare deals in 2022, up from just 10 the year previous. This week's CDT Roundup looks at the kinds of deals that are leading the recent rise in healthcare transactions — including a recent $2.1 billion transaction — along with the usual roll call of the firms and lawyers who reported in last week.
Like "energy transition" before it, the word "infrastructure" has worked its way into dealmaking vocabulary as a significant buzzword. But buzzwords can buzz with real money behind them as a new McKinsey report suggests. Funds earmarked for infrastructure and natural resources investment hit $158 billion last year and such assets under management last year were up more than 14 percent over 2021, according to the report. Claire Poole takes a look at the short- and long-term for infrastructure dealmaking, and it's more complicated than it seems. But at least one infrastructure deal among the dozen transactions reported to the CDT Roundup last week shows that the numbers can be really, really big.
The infrastructure giant, advised in part by Skadden's Houston office, bets big on the continued strength of shipping at a time of supply shortages.
That Texas has created an increasingly diverse economy is no secret. But the CDT Roundup this week notes something surprising: that Texas added more tech workers to its workforce in 2022 than any other state. What has that to do with dealmaking? Apparently, lots. Claire Poole takes a look at the rise in Texas-led tech deals that paralleled the rise in tech workers. Or was it vice versa? That, along with a look at the week in deals and the names of the 178 lawyers who worked on them.
Inflation results in more than high prices for tomatoes and toilet paper. After nearly a decade in which the price of money hovered near zero, persistent inflation has apparently hammered down the appetite for M&A from private equity, dropping global M&A by 48 percent and global private equity deals by 57 percent — 46 percent in the U.S. Claire Poole analyzes reasons for the current drought in this week's Corporate Deal Tracker Roundup, along with the names of the lawyers who fought the headwinds against last week's deals.
Vinson & Elkins, Sidley Austin and Shearman & Sterling advised on the cash and stock acquisition, which includes about 3,000 miles of pipeline through major areas of the Permian. After closing, Dallas-based Energy Transfer plans a new 30-mile connection with the Cushing hub in Oklahoma. Claire Poole details the deal and the names of the lawyers involved.
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