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The oil patch may be looking a little dry, but Texas transactional lawyers are still being kept busy by their energy clients.
Since 2009, Texas energy companies and private equity firms have been on the buying or selling side of more than 760 mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures that had a combined deal value of $546 billion. That red hot deal market for upstream companies crashed in Q1 of 2015 when oil and gas M&A plummeted 55 percent. The Texas Lawbook interviewed eight oil and gas general counsel impacted by the drop in oil prices. The GCs discuss cuts to their legal budget, upcoming redetermination on oil reserves and their expectations for the M&A upstream deal market. “We’ve been blowing and going for the past several years. We are using this opportunity to step back and take a deep breath,” said RSP Permian GC Jim Mutrie.
Texas companies were involved in more mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures in 2014 than in any year in history, shattering the previous record set before the financial crisis. Led by a trio of mega-deals, the accumulated value of 2014 M&A exceeded the dollar totals of all transactions from 2013 and 2012 combined. The Texas Lawbook has the exclusive data as well as an analysis of the M&A market.
Mergermarket reports that a handful of large corporate law firms are benefiting greatly from the M&A boom of 2014. Three Texas firms - V&E, Baker Botts and Bracewell - are leading their fair share of the deals. Out-of-state firms, including Latham, Jones Day and Kirkland, score big, too. The Texas Lawbook exclusively lists the top 20 M&A firms and there are some surprises.
The IPO market appears to have fully recovered from the stock market crash of 2008. Sixteen Texas-based companies priced initial public offerings in the first half of 2014 - up from five during the first half of 2013. This article compares the Texas IPO market to the rest of the U.S. We also provide details about the 16 IPOs so far this year, how well each has done and lists the law firms involved.
Texas companies were involved in 255 mergers and acquisitions during the first half of 2014 – a 44 percent increase over H1 2013 and more than any two consecutive quarters over the past decade, according to mergermarket media . The Texas Lawbook has the list of the top 20 law firms and investment banks for deal-making so far this year.
The merger of American Airlines and US Airways may be the last combination of large U.S. air carriers for a long time.
In a recent article, Mark Cuban commented how media revenues will push NBA valuations far higher than they are currently. “If we do this right, it’s not inconceivable that every NBA franchise will be worth more than $1 billion within ten years”, he said. While that observation could be on the money, it’s not the only engine that drives NBA team values. The undergirding economics of these teams are complex and nuanced. The values are primarily by three different factors, some that cannot be controlled by owners and their advisory teams, but others that can be.
M&A activity involving Texas businesses fell to near recessionary lows during the first six months of 2013, but experts say there are signs for a solid rebound for M&A activity in the months ahead.
Texas corporations announced 428 mergers, acquisitions, divestiture of assets, joint ventures and spinoffs last year – an 18 percent increase over 2011 and only five deals shy of the record set in 2007, according to mergermarket. Q4 was the best ever. The usual suspect of law firms topped the league tables, but a firm that doesn't even have an office in Texas - yet - jumped to number six. Read for more details.
American Airlines' bankruptcy, dozens of billion-dollar energy deals, BP oil spill settlements and the criminal trial of Houston investor R. Allen Stanford were among the lead business law stories of 2012.
There have been more than $1 trillion in global energy M&A during the past 32 months - nearly one-fourth of it involving Texas-based energy companies. New statistics, obtained exclusively by The Texas Lawbook, show that oil and gas transactions continue to flow at a record pace and that Texas lawyers are getting more than their fair share of the work. “There’s a lot of money flowing into energy and Texas right now,” says Stephen Coats, a managing partner and general counsel at New York-based Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm. This article goes inside the statistics to show which Texas firms are doing good and which are doing really good.
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