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.

April 18, 2023 Claire Poole

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.

April 17, 2023 Claire Poole & Allen Pusey

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.

April 12, 2023 Brooks Igo

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.

April 12, 2023 Claire Poole

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.

April 11, 2023 Claire Poole & Allen Pusey

Using ESOP, Family Foundation and Family Ownership to Successfully Transition a Family-Owned Business

There are more than 20 million family-owned businesses in the U.S. Very few family businesses successfully transition from one generation to the next. This article compares the "old technique" to the "new technique" of transitioning a family business.

April 11, 2023 John A. Kober

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.

April 4, 2023 J. David Washburn

CDT Roundup: 21 Deals, 12 Firms, 178 Lawyers, $18.7B

That Texas has created an increasingly diverse economy is no secret. But the CDT Roundup this week notes something surprising: that Texas added more tech workers to its workforce in 2022 than any other state. What has that to do with dealmaking? Apparently, lots. Claire Poole takes a look at the rise in Texas-led tech deals that paralleled the rise in tech workers. Or was it vice versa? That, along with a look at the week in deals and the names of the 178 lawyers who worked on them.

April 4, 2023 Claire Poole

Ovintiv Exits Bakken for Permian in Tandem Deals with EnCap Totaling $5.1B

Gibson Dunn, Kirkland & Ellis and Vinson & Elkins counseled the various parties in the pair of agreements with a total of 70 Texas lawyers in the mix. The deal includes what Ovintiv describes as "a unique undeveloped asset" involving "some of the best rock" in the Northern Midland Basin of the Permian.

April 3, 2023 Allen Pusey

Celanese GC Lynne Puckett Led DFW’s 2022 M&A Transaction of the Year

As a CIA intelligence officer focusing on Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lynne Puckett “got a ringside seat to the dissolution of Eastern Europe as communist-controlled in 1989. It was also when she realized she wanted to go to law school.

Three decades later, Puckett is the general counsel of Celanese Corporation, an Irving-based global chemical and specialty materials company with a market cap of $12 billion. In November 2022, Puckett and her legal team closed an $11 billion acquisition of a majority ownership in DuPont’s mobility and materials business.

Citing the deal’s extraordinary complexity, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook named Puckett, her in-house legal team at Celanese and outside counsel at Baker Botts as the recipient of the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for M&A Transaction of the Year.

March 30, 2023 Mark Curriden

Energy Transfer buys EnCap’s Lotus for $1.45B

Vinson & Elkins, Sidley Austin and Shearman & Sterling advised on the cash and stock acquisition, which includes about 3,000 miles of pipeline through major areas of the Permian. After closing, Dallas-based Energy Transfer plans a new 30-mile connection with the Cushing hub in Oklahoma. Claire Poole details the deal and the names of the lawyers involved.

March 27, 2023 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 7 Deals, 7 Firms, 78 Lawyers, $14B

It's been five years since New York-headquartered Shearman & Sterling opened its first offices in Texas. The CDT Roundup thought it might be a good time to check in with Bill Nelson, the head of those Texas offices. His thoughts about the transition and the changes he's seen in his practice are featured this week, along with a relatively skimpy roll call of the 78 lawyers who ignored spring break to turn in this week's roster of deals.

March 21, 2023 Claire Poole & Allen Pusey