If oil and gas producers (and their lenders, and their investors) seem ill-at-ease these days, it’s not imaginary. Haynes Boone’s Spring 2023 survey of the O&G deal community suggests they are pessimistic about the near-term availability of capital and are looking at a variety of sources to maintain growth and profitability — sources that increasingly include their own cash flow. This week’s CDT Roundup has the specifics of the survey, which included 96 top executives from the industry and the banks that lend to them. And, as usual, there are the names of the Texas firms and lawyers behind the 23 deals reported last week.
CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 14 Firms, 104 Lawyers, $5.6B
This being Year Three of the Covid 19 pandemic, technically speaking/writing, it may come as no surprise that healthcare deals are becoming a thing, even in Texas. The Corporate Deal Tracker counted 55 Texas-related healthcare deals in 2022, up from just 10 the year previous. This week’s CDT Roundup looks at the kinds of deals that are leading the recent rise in healthcare transactions — including a recent $2.1 billion transaction — along with the usual roll call of the firms and lawyers who reported in last week.
Q&A with Willkie’s Tan Lu
The Lawbook caught up with Lu about his move to Willkie from V&E earlier this year, the emerging trends he is paying attention to and the “fuel that keeps [his] fire burning” as a deal lawyer.
Time for Action: Add These Items to Your Commercial Lease in 2023
All too often commercial tenants accept their lease agreements freely and without any objections. However, a one-time review of the lease can lead to years of savings.
CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 9 Firms, 59 Lawyers, $24B
Like “energy transition” before it, the word “infrastructure” has worked its way into dealmaking vocabulary as a significant buzzword. But buzzwords can buzz with real money behind them as a new McKinsey report suggests. Funds earmarked for infrastructure and natural resources investment hit $158 billion last year and such assets under management last year were up more than 14 percent over 2021, according to the report. Claire Poole takes a look at the short- and long-term for infrastructure dealmaking, and it’s more complicated than it seems. But at least one infrastructure deal among the dozen transactions reported to the CDT Roundup last week shows that the numbers can be really, really big.
Omar Samji Departs Shearman for Weil
Omar Samji’s departure follows the recent high-profile exits of Hugh Tucker and Jeremy Kennedy who left Shearman for Haynes and Boone. Samji plans to tool his energy practice towards the rapidly-evolving transitional sectors, like decarbonization, that are gaining significant ground within the traditional oil & gas industry.
CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 9 Firms, 173 Lawyers, $8.95B
Since the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, many eyes have been on the start-ups that became its raison d’etre. Unfortunately, those eyes have also been on wallets and purse strings, as a new Crunchbase study shows. Venture capital investments for Q1 2023 are down over the same period last year. Moreover, they’ve been trending down for each quarter since last year. The CDT Roundup takes a look at the numbers, as well as the M&A and CapM deals reported last week. There’s some good news in there — somewhere. You just have to look hard for it.
Brookfield Buys Freight Provider Triton for $13B
The infrastructure giant, advised in part by Skadden’s Houston office, bets big on the continued strength of shipping at a time of supply shortages.
Katten’s Mark Solomon Reflects on Dallas Office’s Successes/Challenges at Five-Year Mark
In an in-depth Q&A with The Lawbook, Mark Solomon shares a few of the office’s major successes, identifies significant challenges facing the firm, surveys the lay of the land for deal activity and shares his favorite features of the new digs at PwC Tower. Plus, a windup about those damn Yankees as baseball returns.
Middle-Market M&A Opportunities Abound in Texas Despite Broader Market Uncertainty
A Katten report shows that private equity dealmakers are split on the 2023 M&A outlook but see promise in technology and other sectors.