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Exclusive new data examining mergers and acquisitions during the past eight years involving Texas-based companies shows that a dramatic shift has taken place in the corporate legal marketplace. Mergermarket shows that 28 of the 40 law firms advising Texas businesses in the most M&A deals from 2010 to 2017 are based outside Texas.
Transactions were all over the map last week involving a major acquisition by a chemical giant, a major oil and gas purchase by a company in pre-packaged bankruptcy, capital funding for a medical device manufacturer and a merger by two companies in the infrastructure business just as the Trump administration announced plans to pump $200 billion into public works projects. Claire Poole has deal details and weekly totals in her CDT Weekly Roundup in The Texas Lawbook.
The Texas corporate legal market is experiencing extraordinary turmoil in 2018 – and the year is only six weeks old. Three large Texas-based corporate law firms are in the final stages of merger negotiations with out-of-state law firms. Five national law firms have either opened or are opening new offices in the state before the end of March. Since Jan. 1, more than 100 business lawyers have quit the law firms in Austin, Dallas and Houston where they have worked for years or even decades to join competitors. The Texas legal market, which has been a hotbed of activity since 2010, is in the midst of a frenzied transformation not witnessed in decades. The Texas Lawbook has details.
Texas deal attorneys were active this past week, with 17 firms and 157 lawyers working on 23 deals worth $7.1 billion. The deals ranged from mergers to asset divestitures to joint ventures to equity and debt issues to private equity commitments all across the oil and gas spectrum. Claire Poole has the details in her weekly roundup.
Amid the volatility of the financial markets on Tuesday, two billion-dollar deals were announced that involved three different Texas law firms - Baker Botts, Bracewell and V&E. One deal is more certain, the other not so much.
Deal count was up by five transactions versus the previous week. But the deal value was down by 31.7 percent over last week’s $12.6 billion--even counting a large October notes issue whose lawyers weren’t revealed until last week. Claire Poole’s weekly Deal Tracker Roundup recounts all the deals, all the details and all the numbers behind them in The Texas Lawbook.
Last week Texas dealmaking continued apace: an energy-related IPO moved forward, two joint ventures were inked, a bankruptcy was filed and oil and gas asset sales continued. In addition, there were fundings of a healthcare company and an oil and gas explorer as well as a private equity firm purchase of an oilfield services company. Does any of this mean that the energy sector has officially turned around? See what Claire Poole has to say in her weekly Deal Tracker Roundup in The Texas Lawbook.
A surge in deal-making over the last few weeks has observers believing that 2018 may be a strong one. Tax reform and a rise in oil prices fueled a week that saw 129 Texas lawyers from 15 different firms and in-house teams working on 19 transactions worth $9.4 billion. That was up considerably from the previous week when 49 Texas lawyers worked on 10 transactions worth $6.28 billion. Claire Poole has her weekly update in The Texas Lawbook. and the news is good.
It was clearly back to work for Texas attorneys in the second full week of January with eight firms working on ten transactions worth a total of nearly $6.3 billion. As she does each week, Claire Poole has all the details in The Texas Lawbook.
USA Compression Partners announced a $1.8 billion deal to acquire CDM Resource Management from Energy Transfer Partners. It’s a complicated deal and, therefore, involved lots of Texas lawyers. Claire Poole explains in The Texas Lawbook.
A noticeable lull in IPOs was broken last week by the revival of an issue postponed last year. Denver-based Liberty Oilfield Services not only revived the issue, it increased the size, suggesting to some that there is renewed equity demand from investors for energy companies. Claire Poole outlines the good news in The Texas Lawbook.
Texas businesses were on track last year to challenge 2014 as the best year ever for M&A, but then dealmaking slowed considerably in the fourth quarter. Mergermarket reports deal count during the final three months of 2017 dropped 13.3 percent from the third quarter and deal value plummeted 55 percent. The Texas Lawbook also reports the 25 largest M&A deals of 2017.
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