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It's hard to say where the current capital markets would be without special purpose acquisition corporations. But it's not hard at all to say that they are becoming more and more important. The CDT Roundup explores.
Nearly all the firms handling the largest M&A deals in Texas are based outside of the state. Nearly a half of them have no office in Texas. And only three of the top 40 are headquartered in Dallas or Houston. The deal value rankings can be highly misleading, and all legal analysts agree it is an inferior measure to deal count rankings. Even so, it is a fun number to discuss. So, we do.
A Weil team from Dallas co-led the $2.5 billion merger of Topgolf with Callaway. A California-led team from Latham advised Callaway. The Texas Lawbook has the names of the lawyers involved.
There were two massive deals this past week in the energy space which together were worth $17.1 billion. Does this mark a change in the current M&A environment? Maybe. But the real change may lie much deeper in the numbers. The CDT Roundup explains.
Dykema's 16th Annual M&A Survey is out, and the results are upbeat — but cautious. COVID-19 is the culprit, of course, but respondents were considerably more positive than this time last year. In a week that began with a stock market tumble fueled by a mixed government response to COVID-19, more than 70% of the nation's top business executives surveyed said they are essentially optimistic that the market for mergers and acquisitions will strengthen in the next 12 months. The Lawbook has the details.
The second week of October recorded the lowest total value for transactions ever recorded by the CDT Roundup. But with two major M&A deals already reported this week, there is absolute certainty that next week's report will be better.
The battle of law firms in Texas for M&A has been turbulent so far this year. Nine of the top 10 firms and 33 of the top 40 firms saw a decline in M&A activity during the first nine months. Kirkland is way down in deal count, but still way ahead of everyone else. Norton Rose Fulbright, McDermott, Porter Hedges and King & Spalding are up.
Irving-based Pioneer Natural Resources is buying Parsley Energy for $4.5 billion in stock and the assumption of $3.1 billion of Parsley's debt. Texas Lawbook writer Allen Pusey has the lawyers for Gibson Dunn and Vinson & Elkins.
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