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Topgolf Callaway Brands said Tuesday that it sold a 60 percent stake in its Topgolf and Toptracer business to Los Angeles private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners in a deal valued at $1.1 billion, with the sale of the stake generating approximately $770 million for Topgolf Callaway. The deal is expected to close early next year.
Pennzoil v. Texaco's legacy remains significant, as it changed how companies handle mergers and acquisitions, caused the Chamber of Commerce to designate Texas as a judicial hellhole in 1986 and directly led to two decades of massive tort reform efforts that dramatically limited the rights of Texans to sue businesses, doctors and insurance companies for wrongdoing. It also launched Texas trial lawyer Joe Jamail to national stardom and made him the richest trial lawyer in American history. In this in-depth article, The Texas Lawbook provides a detailed timeline of the events involved in the historic litigation, as well as comments from more than a dozen lawyers about the legal strategies employed.
Since 2018, Texas lawyers from 44 law firms have been the lead legal advisors to buyers, sellers or targets in 554 mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures with price tags of $1 billion or higher. Sixteen law firms in Texas have led or co-led 10 or more deals valued in the billions. The Texas Lawbook breaks down the data for Texas-led billion-dollar deals from its transactions database.
Texas is at the center of a historic boom in power and utility M&A, fueled by the massive energy demands of data center expansions and the global power race driven by the AI revolution.
It’s no secret that energy, particularly in the form of electricity, has become the foundation of dealmaking in anticipation of the need for hyperscale computing and data storage.
But the demand for power and utility deals, large and small, would be hard to overstate.
In the first three quarters of 2025, Texas lawyers handled more M&A transactions involving power and utility projects than in any full year since 2018.
Not only are there more deals, but they are larger. Far larger. In the first three quarters of 2025, Texas-related deals in the power and utilities sector hit $106.5 billion. By comparison, the record-setting M&A year of 2021 saw eight P&U transactions totaling $3.7 billion. (Photo by Stephanie Tacy/NurPhoto via AP)
The week that ended Nov. 15 saw 16 deals reported to the Roundup, evenly split between M&A and capital/credit markets, with a total value of $16.4 billion. That's down more than a tad from last week's 21 deals valued at nearly $76 billion. But it continues a remarkable run of nine consecutive weeks with total reported values of $11 billion or more.
That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.
The aerospace manufacturer, founded in 2011, is being sold to Nashville-based Arcline Investment Management. Kirkland & Ellis, Ropes & Gray and Paul Hastings are legal advisors on the deal.
Scarlet McNellie’s career at Norton Rose Fulbright offers a rare glimpse into what persistence and vision can yield at a large law firm when paired with loyalty.
In Dykema's 21st Annual Mergers & Acquisitions Outlook Survey the operative words are "cautious optimism" with an emphasis on optimism: 74 percent of respondents saying the M&A market will strengthen over the next 12 months. Let's dig into the survey and see what data from the Corporate Deal Tracker says, as well.
The week ended Nov. 8 began with one of the largest deals in years, as Irving consumer products giant Kimberly-Clark acquired the manufacturer of Tylenol. Overall, CDT saw 21 deals with a total value of nearly $76 billion for the week ending Nov. 8. That and more in this edition of CDT Roundup.
The combined companies will operate under Sonida, which will continue to be traded on the NYSE. Acquisition of the non-traded REIT and its more than 7,500 senior living units, creates the eighth largest owner of senior living assets in the nation. Outside legal counsel included Fried Frank, Sidley Austin and Arnold & Porter.
Gibson Dunn, Paul Weiss and Vinson & Elkins were among the firms advising on the deal that complements Ovintiv's assets on both sides of the border; in the Permian as well as Canada's Montney Basin in northwestern Alberta and beyond.
Vinson & Elkins has hired Houston energy M&A partner Chris Bennett. He is returning to V&E after a couple of years as a partner at Weil.
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