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Jason Philyaw

CDT Roundup: Fiber, Towers and Rare Earths Fuel Diverse Deal Slate

For the week ended April 25, the Roundup reported on 11 deals worth about $19.7 billion, or maybe $69.7 billion, depending on how SpaceX's latest acquisition pans out.

Aside from the SpaceX rent-to-own deal this week's slate of transactions includes the acquisition of a Brazilian Rare Earth source with a 15-year offtake agreement with the U.S.-backed buyer already in place; a $1.5 billion investment in a REIT that specializes in communications towers; the reverse-merger of an offshore oil services firm with a Houston-based competitor; the acquisition of a fiber provider in Alaska; the sale of a compression services provider to a Lubbock firm and the sale of a minority stake in a hyperscale data center developer.

That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.

Jason Philyaw

Gibson Dunn, Kirkland Advise on SpaceX, Cursor Deal

SpaceX said in a social media post that it has an option to acquire Cursor later this year for $60 billion, "or pay $10 billion for our work together.” That work is aimed at creating “the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI.”

Gibson Dunn advised SpaceX, while Kirkland advised Cursor.

Jason Philyaw

CDT Roundup: Deals Pop, Dollars Drop in Mixed Week

For the week ended April 18, the CDT Roundup reported on 14 deals with a total valuation of just over $3.5 billion, and nearly half of that value came from one deal. The prior week had 10 deals reported with a total value of slightly more than $5 billion, while a year ago at this time, the Roundup reported on 13 deals valued at nearly $2.4 billion. While total deal volume is up of late, total values are muted somewhat by a number of deals reported sans financial terms.

That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.

Jason Philyaw

TPG Acquires Sports IP Platform Learfield

Fort Worth private equity firm TPG announced this week that it has agreed to acquire Learfield, a Plano-based media company that specializes in monetizing the intellectual property of college athletics.

Jason Philyaw

CDT Roundup: Deal Flow Slows, but Debt Steps In to Fill the Gap

For the week ended April 11, the CDT Roundup saw 10 deals reported with a total valuation of just over $5 billion. The prior week had 11 deals reported with a total value of $33 billion, dominated by a $29.1 billion megamerger between food distribution giants Sysco and Jetro Restaurant Depot. A year ago at this time, the Roundup reported on eight deals valued at about $2.4 billion.

This week, however, credit and capital markets dominate the deal numbers. Maybe "dominate" is strong a word to describe three debt issues, a $167 million PIPE and a secondary equity offering that forced a dip in a company stock.

Jason Philyaw

Ares Management Buys Whitestone REIT for $1.7B

Alternative investment manager Ares Management Corp. said on Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Houston-based Whitestone REIT for $19 a share, or about $1.7 billion, in cash.

Kirkland is outside legal advisor to Ares and Whitestone's general counsel is Peter Tropoli.

Jason Philyaw

CDT Roundup: Beyond Finally Bags The Container Store in Long-Courted Takeover

The CDT Roundup saw 11 deals reported for the week ended April 4 with a total valuation of nearly $33 billion. The prior week had 13 deals reported with a total value of $10.7 billion, while a year ago at this time there were 19 deals valued at $27.76 billion.

The bulk of the week’s value derives from a $29.1 billion megamerger between two food distribution giants, Sysco and Jetro Restaurant Depot. But the most interesting may be the much smaller acquisition — finally — of The Container Store by Beyond, Inc., better known by its pre-bankruptcy moniker Bed Bath & Beyond.

That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.

Jason Philyaw

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