Baker Botts Leads $850 million TPC Group Deal
Two private equity firms are paying $850 million to take publicly traded Houston-based TPC Group private.
Baker Botts Leads $3.3 Billion Tallgrass Energy – Kinder Morgan Deal
Austin Partner Laura Tyson represents Houston-based Energy & Minerals Group, a primary investor in Tallgrass.
Judge Orders Life Partners to Cease Selling Unregistered Securities
An Austin judge also issued a TRO instructing the Waco-based company to preserve all financial documentation, but declined Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's request to immediately appoint a receiver to take control of the corporation’s financial operations. Travis County District Judge Orlinda Naranjo ruled Friday that Life Partners has likely been violating the Texas Securities Act through its practice of buying life insurance death benefits from elderly and terminally ill policyholders, then reselling them to investors without disclosing the actual life expectancies of the insured.
Texas AG Asks That Life Partners Holdings Be Run By Receiver
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has sued Life Partners Holdings, Inc., and its subsidiary, Life Partners, Inc. for violating the Texas Securities Act by allegedly selling unregistered securities to investors and has asked an Austin judge to appoint a receiver to oversee the Waco-based company's financial operations immediately.
Heman Sweatt’s Family Files Brief in UT Law Admissions Case
Sixty-six years ago, Heman Sweatt walked into the University of Texas Tower seeking admission to the UT Law School. His application was denied for one simple reason: “the fact that he is a negro.” Sweatt sued and won a historic case at the Supreme Court of the United States in 1950. This week, his daughter and other family members filed amicus curiae briefs with the Supreme Court in the Abigail Fisher v. University of Texas, which challenges the law school’s consideration of race in its admissions policy. “The purpose of the Sweatt family’s brief is simple,” says Allan Van Fleet, a litigation partner in the Houston office of McDermott Will & Emery, who is representing the family pro bono. “They want the Supreme Court to remember their father and uncle and his story.”
Jones Day Leads Tokyo Electron in $252 million Surface Preparation Deal
For Dallas M&A partner Scott Cohen, this is the four major transaction in the semi-conductor industry this year.
Houston Jury: Celanese’s $1.3 Billion Contract with Southern Chemicals is Valid
The $1.3 billion contract between Dallas-based Celanese Corporation and Houston-based Southern Chemical Corporation is valid and will continue until the agreement terminates in 2015, a Houston jury ruled Friday. The dispute dates back to 2005, when Southern made a deal with Celanese to supply Celanese with methanol until 2015 – the year the acetyls producer expects to have its own methanol plant up and running.
Port of Houston Authority Wins Six-Year Contractual Dispute
The Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed an $18.6 million judgment against the Houston Port Authority in a six-year contractual dispute with Zachry Construction Corporation. The justices also awarded $10.6 million in legal fees for the Port Authority and its legal team, led by Vinson & Elkins. "The decision of the Court of Appeals upholds the contractual terms agreed to by sophisticated contracting parties and allows the Port to protect the public's funds with contract provisions that provide certainty as to the dollars that the Port will owe under the contract," says V&E appellate partner Marie Yeates.
Fulbright Leads $2.5 billion Oil & Gas Equipment Deal
Houston-based National Oilwell Varco is paying $2.5 billion to buy Robbins & Myers, an Ohio-based oil and gas equipment maker.
Fulbright Leads $2.5 billion Oil & Gas Equipment Deal
Houston-based National Oilwell Varco is paying $2.5 billion to buy Robbins & Myers, an Ohio-based oil and gas equipment maker.
Gibson Dunn Represents EFH in $750 Million Secured Notes
Two EFH subsidiaries are issuing $750 million in senior secured notes designed to improve liquidity at two other EFH subsidiaries.
Fifth Circuit: SEC Case Against Microtune Execs Too Little, Too Late
A former CEO and a former General Counsel at Plano-based Microtune Inc. won a major legal victory Wednesday that is likely to end the SEC's five-year-long effort to prosecute them for allegedly being involved in a $22.5 million options backdating scheme. The federal appeals court ruled that the SEC waited too long to bring charges against Douglas Bartek and Nancy Richardson. The three-judge panel also rejected the SEC’s efforts to have the executives banned from serving as an officer or board member of a publicly traded corporation because such efforts are punishment, not merely an equitable remedy.