CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 7 Firms, 149 Lawyers, $16.5B

In the doubtful case that dealmakers were getting too giddy for their own good, the folks at the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) have published their latest global scorecard on YTD deals in M&A and the capital markets. They should come with a warning: "Keep antacids close." They are presented without comment or explanation, so the CDT Roundup is serving them pretty much raw — but with a generous side-order of last weeks deals and the names of the lawyers who handled them.

February 24, 2025 Allen Pusey & Nick Peck

Exclusive CDT Data: Capital Markets Dominated by Latham Last Year

Whatever else may have happened in the Texas-related capital markets during 2024, the deals they represented left behind some unnervingly easy math. As is true of most years, debt issues outnumbered equity offerings about 2 to 1. But that doesn't mean there weren't some interesting trends and transactions alongside the usual reshuffling of debt.

February 19, 2025 Allen Pusey & Christi Trammell

Hearst Adds Another Texas Newspaper to its Portfolio

Gannett announced Wednesday that it agreed to sell the Austin American-Statesman to media conglomerate Hearst, the owner of the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.

February 19, 2025 Nick Peck

Diamondback Energy Acquires Subsidiaries from Double Eagle for $4.1B

The cash and stock deal, advised by Kirkland & Ellis and Vinson & Elkins, comes a little more than a year after Diamondback's $26 billion merger with Endeavor Energy. It involves about 40 thousand acres near or adjacent to Diamondback's core holdings in the Permian.

February 18, 2025 Nick Peck

M&A Newsmaker: Sidley’s Sara Garcia Duran Closes Deals and Opens Doors

Sara Garcia Duran never considered becoming a lawyer until she was asked to make a decision while on a student trip in high school. She thought about being a politician, but that option didn't sound terribly appealing. “I’ll go join the lawyers,” Duran said.

The M&A-focused partner at Sidley is pleased with her choice. Duran recently gave The Texas Lawbook an in-depth look into her journey and her experience as a woman working as a Texas dealmaker.

February 17, 2025 Nick Peck

CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 13 Firms, 134 Lawyers, $12.1B

The phrase "Drill, Baby, Drill," may be short code for the new administration's energy policy, but according to a recent analysis by S&P Global, don't expect the slogan to characterize the short-term CapX plans for major O&G producers. Stalled by stubborn market prices, fossil fuel production by the world's largest energy producer has plateaued for the moment, a situation that is likely to characterize all of 2025. The CDT Roundup takes a look at the numbers for the U.S. and Texas, as well as the usual summary of Texas-driven transactions reported last week.

February 17, 2025 Nick Peck & Allen Pusey

Latham’s Gamechanging 15 Years in Texas: How The Firm’s Houston Office Wrote the Playbook for National Firms to Storm the State

The Houston office of Latham & Watkins had not been open for a year when Ryan Maierson experienced a significant realization. The office opened in February 2010, and as the year progressed, he and the other partners at Baker Botts began to marvel at how easily this "non-native" firm from Los Angeles integrated itself into Texas's established transactional law environment.

Other national firms had previously entered the Texas market. However, with Latham — the second most profitable law firm in the world — something felt different. In less than a year, Latham had achieved what no other national firm had managed to do: it instilled a sense of fear in the long-established Texas firms that had previously dominated corporate law in the Lone Star State.

Fifteen years later, this is the story of how Latham changed the game in Texas.

February 13, 2025 Allen Pusey

Exclusive Q&A: Why Houston M&A Powerhouse Stephen Gill Chose Skadden

When veteran Houston M&A lawyer Stephen Gill moved to Skadden last month, it was a seismic move on a national scale in terms of hiring skilled dealmaking talent. In this exclusive Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, Gill took some time to talk about trends, why the time was right to make the move to Skadden and more.

February 12, 2025 Jeff Schnick