Mergermarket Expert: TX M&A Market in ‘Real Danger of Developing Congestion or Heartburn’

The Texas market has seen 15 consecutive quarters with about 200 or more deals. "Before the third quarter of 2013, 200 deals was the high water mark. Since then, 200 deals has been the floor," says Mergermarket M&A analyst Chad Watt. “We’ve had so many deals completed [during the past couple years] that the market may need a period to digest it all. “There’s a real danger of developing M&A congestion or heartburn.”

July 18, 2017 Mark Curriden

Experts: Texas M&A Activity Unpredictable for H2 2017

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.

July 16, 2017 Claire Poole

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.

July 16, 2017 Claire Poole

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).

July 13, 2017 Natalie Posgate

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.

July 12, 2017 Mark Curriden

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.

July 12, 2017 Natalie Posgate

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.

July 7, 2017 Natalie Posgate

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).

May 11, 2017 Natalie Posgate

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.

March 30, 2017 Mark Curriden

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.

March 30, 2017 Natalie Posgate

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.

March 27, 2017 Natalie Posgate

Corporate Deal Tracker: 2016 = More M&A Action for TX Lawyers

Texas-based M&A lawyers worked on 24 percent more deals last year than they did in 2015, new data from The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker shows. This article highlights everything you need to know about the data – from the percentage increase and reasons behind energy deals doing better, to which other sectors saw a significant increase in deals, to what is anticipated for deal flow in 2017.

January 27, 2017 Mark Curriden