Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Locke Lord partner Steve Jacobs snagged a big real estate deal this week, serving as local counsel for Brookfield Property Partners on its purchase of the Houston Center office-and-retail complex downtown from J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Deals involving Royal Dutch Shell and Austin-based Bazaarvoice brightened an otherwise dull $1.8 billion week in Texas deal-making. Claire Poole has the names and the numbers behind the deals in The Texas Lawbook.
A large oil and gas merger and some good-sized asset deals kept activity chugging during Thanksgiving Week, with seven deals announced worth $3.85 billion, versus eight transactions valued at $11.05 billion the previous week. Eight law firms and 76 Texas lawyers were involved, compared with nine firms and 62 Texas attorneys the previous week. The Texas Lawbook has the names and the numbers behind the numbers.
Leaders at Tacos Energy and Stone Energy say their combination will create a top offshore-focused exploration and production company with an initial equity market capitalization of $1.9 billion and an enterprise value of $2.5 billion.
The corporate deal world in Texas saw fewer transactions the week before Thanksgiving, but capital markets activity caused deal value for Nov. 13-20 to jump to $11.05 billion. Activity ranged from private equity commitments and exits to a slew of public notes offerings as Wall Street marches toward year-end. The biggest deal transaction of the week was Marathon Petroleum’s $8.1 billion asset drop-down to affiliate MPLX followed by Energy Transfer Partners’ $1.5 billion sale of preferred units. Baker Botts' Josh Davidson led three of the transactions. The Texas Lawbook has all the names and details.
Deal activity - led by Noble Energy’s $608 million property sale to SRC Energy and BlackRock fund’s $600 million pipeline acquisition from NGL Energy Partners and SemGroup - was strong last week. There were 10 transactions between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, which is down 33 percent from the week before, but total deal value jump to $2.7 billion - up from $2.38 billion the week before. The Texas Lawbook has all the deals and the legal and financial advisers who handled those transactions.
SandRidge Energy announced Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Bonanza Creek Energy for $746 million. Both companies had emerged from bankruptcies filed last year. Claire Poole has details of the deal and the names of the lawyers who advised them.
Deal activity last week was slower and lower than the week previous. There were 15 deals at reported value of $2.38 billion, about half the value of deals reported the week before. Claire Poole has the details in The Texas Lawbook.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Crescent owner Jason Goff turned to Cowboys GC Jason Cohen and assistant GC Kaleisha Stuart to lead a legal team that included lawyers from Winstead, O'Melveny, McCathern and Crain Caton to advise in this week's acquisition of e-sports team Complexity Gaming.
Texas corporate dealmakers had another a brisk week. In addition to the $1.7 billion Vistra-Dynegy deal, there was activity in the food, financial services, chemicals, mining and waste industries, along with oil and gas. Claire Poole has the details in her weekly report.
Houston-based American Midstream Partners assistant GC Tom Leslie, a former U.S. Army captain who served in Baghdad and Friedberg, Germany, worked with Gibson Dunn in the comany's $815 million purchase of Southcross Energy Partners. Southcross GC Kelly Jameson of Dallas turned to Locke Lord as its legal adviser, while Akin Gump represented the Southcross conflicts committee.
Billie Ellis posed as a rancher in 1984 to buy 2,500 acres in Arizona to develop a scientific experiment called Biosphere II, which was a dome designed to recreate Earth as a way to possibly settle Mars. He helped Bob Bass buy The Plaza Hotel for $250 million in 1988 and resold it to Donald Trump six months later for $410 million. For four decades, Ellis has been recognized as the best commercial real estate lawyer in Texas history. He’s represented some of the most powerful and wealthy individuals in the state, including the Bass brothers, Richard Rainwater and David Bonderman. And does he have some stories to tell.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
