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UPDATED: Texas-headquartered dealmaking has plummeted to historic levels in 2020. The second quarter had only 89 deals, only one more than Q1 2009, at the nadir of the Great Recession. The Texas Lawbook has the numbers and they include a nearly 94% drop in year-over-year value from 2019.
The oil and gas industry is still reeling from "Black April" — when the NYMEX oil benchmark hit bottom and kept going. Last week two major price reporting agencies launched their own benchmarks aiming to solve the problem by setting the price of Texas oil in Texas.
In addition to a reduced price, the two companies agreed to sell $835 million in assets, including some likely required for DOJ antitrust clearance.
We know you're worried that oil is still hovering stubbornly around $40bbl. But as the weekly CDT Roundup explains, it could be worse: you could be in retail.
Maybe misery doesn't always love company. But every once in a while it does enjoy taking inventory. Allen Pusey, standing in for Claire Poole, explains in this week's roundup.
As oil prices teased $40bbl last week, the market revealed the wary side of itself. But Texas dealmaking for the first week in June matched last year's numbers, even if they involved some unexpected players.
In weeks when good news looks good by simply not being apocalyptic — slower coronavirus death rates, modest reopening of public spaces, oil prices above zero — you're just going to have to lower your standards. Keep that in mind when you're hunting for good news in this week's CDT Roundup.
Word this week that a $5.5 billion bank merger was scrubbed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic may only be the beginning of the bad news from the Corporate Deal Tracker. 'Buckle up' is the lesson gleaned from this week's belated report. Be sure to see a note about that and the absence — for the moment — of our friend and colleague, Claire Poole.
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