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Corporate Deal Tracker
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CDT SNAPSHOT
-21.7% vs +27.2%
According to the Corporate Deal Tracker, which includes deals reported confidentially as well as those publicly announced, M&A deal count is trailing last year’s totals by more than 20 percent year-over-year. Deal value, however, supported by AI-driven and energy megadeals, has already reached more than $1.2 trillion (+27.2%)
CDT DATABASE YEAR-TO-DATE TRANSACTION TOTALS
OCT. 18, 2026
DEAL COUNT
1,089
DEAL VALUE
$1,214.2
OCT. 18, 2025
DEAL COUNT
1,390
DEAL VALUE
$954.7

CDT Roundup: 20 Deals, 19 Firms, 372 Lawyers, $9.1B

Maybe you've already noticed, but M&A is buzzing in the first two months of 2024. But the buzz is not just in Texas. At the moment things are buzzing globally and across sectors, according to a report by LSEG Deals Intelligence. Boosted by nine megadeals ($10 billion or more), M&A transactions announced through February were valued at $522 billion, up 75 percent over the same period in 2023. This week's CDT Roundup takes a look at the fine print in that LSEG report, along with the 20 deals reported by Texas lawyers last week.

Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 19 Deals, 12 Firms, 248 Lawyers, $16.4B

Before Houston-based Intuitive Machines landed the first privately funded craft on the moon, they landed a merger partner and a major investor with the help of the Houston office of Latham & Watkins. This week, The Roundup looks back at those deals and the lawyers who worked on them — along with the $16 billion in Texas-related deals reported last week.

Claire Poole

U.S. Fifth Circuit Rules in Favor of Advisor in $4M M&A Fee Dispute

The court ruled that Denver-based Catalyst Strategic Advisors is entitled to an advisory completion fee in connection with the sale of a Houston building supply company. The court determined that the "procuring-cause doctrine" was rendered inapplicable by the specific language of Catalyst's contract, even though the sale took place 15 months after the company's sale.

Allen Pusey

Chord Scoops Up Enerplus for $4.2B

Vinson & Elkins advised Chord and Latham & Watkins assisted Enerplus, a combination that analysts say will create a more formidable, acquisitive Williston-focused explorer and producer.

Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 15 Firms, 157 Lawyers, $29.9B

A policy "pause" in the expansion of LNG exports announced late last month by the Biden Administration came as a shock to many. U.S. LNG exports are not only regarded as strategic help for Western allies following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but a viable climate-friendly alternative to coal. But life in the energy biz is never so simple, especially when it comes to fossil fuels. And this week's CDT Roundup takes a quick look at the factors that seems to have led to the pause, and the potential it could have on Texas M&A. That, and the usual review of last week's Texas-related corporate transactions.

Claire Poole & Allen Pusey

Correction — Revised CDT 2023 M&A Law Firm Rankings

Last week, The Texas Lawbook published the exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker ranking of law firms whose Texas lawyers handled the most mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures in 2023. Unfortunately, we missed 65 M&A transactions done by three law firms that were submitted to the CDT at the end of the year. We accidentally recorded one transaction as a $4 million deal when it was for $4 billion. The Lawbook withdrew the article from publication as soon as we recognized our error.

Texas lawyers at 19 firms worked on 25 or more deals in 2023. Eight law firms — Akin, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Haynes Boone, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin, Vinson & Elkins and White & Case — reported their lawyers in Texas worked on 50 or more transactions. Four law firms had lawyers in their Texas offices work on 100 or more M&A deals last year. The Texas attorneys at only two firms recorded total 2023 deal counts at 150 or more and deal values exceeding $150 billion. And the Austin, Dallas and Houston lawyers for a single law firm were lead or co-lead legal advisors for the buyers, sellers or targets in 140 deals — nearly twice as many as any other law firm, according to CDT data.

Mark Curriden, Christi Trammell & Allen Pusey

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