CDT Roundup: 8 Deals, 8 Firms, 84 Lawyers, $7.9B

Worldwide M&A values in 2023 reached $2.9 trillion, down 17 percent from 2022. U.S. M&A values were $1.4 trillion in 2023, down about 5 percent compared to the prior year — the slowest (and lowest) annual number in six years. According to a study by LSEG, a data and information firm, private equity-backed M&A fared even worse: a decline of 30 percent in value from 2022. Mega deals ($10 billion+) were down in value and volume. So, what went right? Maybe more than it seems. A closer look at the numbers reveal something far less grim; maybe even optimistic. Perhaps needless to say, CDT Roundup takes that closer look — along with the usual "roundup" of lawyers and firms who reported their deals last week.

January 9, 2024 Claire Poole

The Top 15 M&A Deals of 2023 (Because We Couldn’t Stop at 10)

The M&A market for 2023 was characterized by some familiar bedfellows: uncertainty and energy. Dealmakers had to run a gauntlet that included, at various moments, war, inflation, Federal Reserve intervention, price uncertainties and even scandal in tech-heavy business sectors like banking and blockchain. But despite all that, the year 2023 has ended in decent shape.

January 4, 2024 Allen Pusey & Claire Poole

Kirkland Counsels Callon on $4.5B APA Purchase

Analysts say the deal helps boost both inventory and oil mix in APA’s unconventional portfolio but are less favorable on Callon's asset quality.

January 4, 2024 Claire Poole

Prominent PE Dealmaker Sarah McLean Leaves Shearman for Willkie

The attorney has more than 20 years of experience advising private equity funds and management teams on high profile deals across the energy sector. EnCap Flatrock Midstream is one of her regular clients.

January 2, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 17 Deals, 12 Firms, 99 Lawyers, $14.6B

Energy transition is proving itself more complicated than expected, and legacy energy more durable. Whether upstream or midstream, energy M&A in 2023 managed to endure the diverse pressures of war, politics, inflation and price volatility to emerge, as TPH&Co., the energy business of boutique bankers Perella Weinberg, describes it: "more important and dynamic than ever." This week's CDT Roundup looks at their interesting year-end reflections, along with 17 deals reported during the final week of the year, as well as the firms and lawyers who worked on them.

January 2, 2024 Claire Poole

Latham, Jackson Walker Lead Mark Cuban’s $3.5B Sale of Mavs; Deal to Close This Week

On Wednesday, the NBA Board of Governors approved the majority stake sale from Mark Cuban to the families of Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and Sivan and Patrick Dumont, who serves as president and COO of the casino company and is Adelson’s son-in-law. A Houston partner from Latham and Dallas lawyers from Jackson Walker played key roles in the deal.

December 27, 2023 Jeff Schnick

CDT Roundup: 23 Deals, 13 Firms, 219 Lawyers, $4.2B

Want to know what 2024 will look like? Just take a hard look at 2023, according to many of the respondents to the Dallas Fed's quarterly energy survey. Buoyed by a belief that oil prices will remain more than $70 per barrel, even with depressed natural gas prices, energy producers in the Fed's Region 11 expect consolidations to continue in East and West Texas including a few blockbuster deals. That's what 2023 looked like. The CDT Roundup looks at the details of the Dallas Fed survey along with the usual list of lawyers and firms behind the 23 transactions reported during the next-to-last week of the year.

December 26, 2023 Allen Pusey & Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 13 Deals, 13 Firms, 280 Lawyers, $16.4B

Oxy's back. With its $12 billion acquisition of CrownRock last week, Occidental Petroleum not only joined other energy giants in the great consolidation of Texas oil production, but in the process seems to have shaken off the burden of its nearly disastrous $57 billion absorption of Anadarko Petroleum in 2018. Still, some observers think some of the same risks of overcommitment — not to mention regulatory concerns — are lurking in even this more modest deal. The CDT Roundup looks at those concerns, as well as the other deals reported from Texas by 280 lawyers.

December 19, 2023 Claire Poole

TG Natural Resources Acquires Rockcliff Energy II for $2.7B

Lawyers from Vinson & Elkins and Kirkland & Ellis advised on the transaction which further consolidates gas production feeding the LNG terminals along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.

December 18, 2023 Allen Pusey

CDT Roundup: 26 Deals, 17 Firms, 244 Lawyers, $14.6B

It's not that unusual, particularly in these days of energy consolidation, to have three billion-dollar deals. But this week saw three billion-dollar deals in three completely different business sectors: pharma, airlines and clean energy. The Roundup takes a look at the whys behind those deals, along with a huge menu of 26 deals, including 10 capital markets transactions (one of which was a very rare IPO and none of which involved Shohei Ohtani). And, of course, the names of the 244 lawyers who worked on them.

December 12, 2023 Claire Poole

V&E and Latham Advise on Oxy’s $12B Acquisition of CrownRock

Oxy's acquisition of the Midland-based independent, which includes the assumption of $1.2 billion in CrownRock debt, further consolidates Oxy's prime perch in the productive Permian Basin. The Lawbook has the names of all 72 lawyers involved in the deal.

December 11, 2023 Allen Pusey

CDT Roundup: 13 Deals, 9 Firms, 57 Lawyers, $6.7B

Last week's announcement of a new joint venture between Sentinel Midstream and ExxonMobil connecting Louisiana pipelines marked more than another O&G consolidation. It was another deal to be tallied in what has been a remarkable year for Willkie Farr & Gallagher's Houston partner, Archie Fallon. As we head into the final month of 2023, the CDT Roundup looks at his major deals on the year, along with those of the 57 mostly Texas lawyers who reported transactions for the week following the Thanksgiving holiday.

December 5, 2023 Claire Poole