How will M&A activity shape up in the second half of the year? The Texas Lawbook interviewed nearly a dozen of the leading corporate and private equity lawyers in the state to gauge their view on the M&A market for the first half of 2017 and what they forecast for the remainder of the year. This is their analysis.
Mergermarket: Texas M&A Flat but Solid in H1 2017
Merger and acquisition activity among Texas-based businesses remained healthy during the first half of 2017, but far from the exuberant pace of dealmaking in 2014. Deal count has been flat, but deal value is up significantly over 2016, fueled by steady oil and gas M&A and Whole Foods’ sale to Amazon. The Texas Lawbook has the exclusive data from Mergermarket, along with a list of the 30 biggest deals during the first six months of 2017.
Lone Star Funds Buys Ceramic Glaze Maker for $693M
Dallas-based Lone Star Funds said Thursday that it will purchase Esmalglass, a supplier of intermediate products for the ceramic industry, to Bahrain-based Investcorp for 605 million euros ($693 million).
Houston Energy M&A Journalist Claire Poole Joins Lawbook Team
Respected energy M&A journalist Claire Poole is joining The Texas Lawbook team as a contributing correspondent in Houston covering corporate transactions and the legal profession. Claire spent 16 years at The Deal covering M&A, private equity and securities offerings in the oil patch. We are honored to have her join our team.
Bracewell Advises Apache in $713M Exit from Canada
Apache has exited Canada through the closing of three different transactions. The Houston-based energy company said it will use the $713 million in proceeds to focus on the Permian Basin, fund its capital program, and reduce debt.
Jones Day Advises on $3B Plano Real Estate Deal
South Carolina-based Greystar Real Estate Partners said it will pay $3 billion to purchase Monogram Residential Trust, a Plano-based REIT that owns, operates, and develops luxury residential and corporate apartment communities.
V&E and Latham Take Lion’s Share of 2016 Offering Work
Though the type of securities offerings that companies issued differed from 2015 to 2016, the Texas law firms and lawyers behind the offerings stayed pretty close to the same, according to new data from The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker. To no one’s surprise, most lawyers ranked at the top are all Houstonites. But one Dallasite broke the mold on the issuer’s side.
This article names the individuals dominating securities work and has a breakdown of how each firm’s capital markets work in 2016 compared to the previous year. (Spoiler alert: two firms handled 65 percent of all securities offerings in the 2016 database).
Andy Calder: The M&A King of 2016
Three years ago, the 38-year-old joined Kirkland & Ellis to spearhead the the firm’s brand new Houston office. In those three short years, he has grown said office to more than 100 lawyers – a growth spurt that will cause them to move to a brand new office later this spring and become the anchor tenant of one of Houston’s newest (and sexiest) skyscrapers. Amazingly, Calder has still maintained a full plate of work in his corporate transactional practice. In fact, he led more M&A deals last year than any of the 368 lawyers in the Corporate Deal Tracker’s database. This is Calder’s story.
2016 M&A Lawyer Leaderboard: Houstonians and a Lotta White Guys
The scoreboard for the top Texas M&A deal-makers in 2016 is final. From Akin Gump, Andrews Kurth Kenyon and Baker Botts to Latham, V&E and Weil, all the usual suspects are there. Several newcomers have broken into the top 30. Kirkland’s investment in Houston is paying off.
But The Texas Lawbook does more than just name names. We paint a biographical portrait of Texas deal-makers. FYI: Most are from Houston – not Dallas. Very few are women and even less are ethnic minorities.
Corp. Deal Tracker: M&A Firm Leaderboard Played Musical Chairs in 2016
For most Texas-based M&A lawyers, 2016 was not in line with one of Charles Dickens’ most famous lines: it was neither the best of times nor the worst of times for corporate transactional work. But some changes occurred among the law firm leaderboard.
New data from The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker reveals which firms stayed at the very top for handling the most M&A work in 2016 and which firms got booted out of the top by others. This report provides a full analysis on the new rankings and insights from firm leaders for how deal flow is looking in 2017.