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Non-SPAC IPOs are on the uptick in Texas typified by one filed last month by Mach Resources, a company created by natural gas icon Tom Ward, former jefe at Chesapeake Energy and a few other familiar energy stops. Claire Poole looks at that deal along with the firms and lawyers behind last week's 17 Texas-related transactions.
Hydrogen ranks No. 1 in the Periodic Table of Elements, but its carbon-heavy production process has made it a target – not only of environmental concerns — but of potential solutions. Its elemental role in a variety of industrial production processes has made the pursuit of CCS technologies (carbon capture and sequestration) a rising star in a Texas-led pursuit of scalable environmental abatement. Alan Alexander, a partner at Vinson & Elkins, has made himself part of that pursuit. His views are part of this week's CDT Roundup, along with the usual summaries of new transactions and the roster of lawyers who made them.
The pair worked on various public and private offerings of equity and debt securities as well as IPO's, often involving SPACs.
Only three Texas lawyers so far in 2023 worked on M&A deals with a combined deal value of $25 billion or more, according to The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker. See their numbers and those of more than 300 Texas lawyers here.
The Corporate Deal Tracker’s Texas lawyer rankings for M&A dealmaking in 2023 ranked by deal count from Jan. 1 through Aug. 31 shows that only two lawyers have been involved in at least 10 mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures so far this year, but 23 have worked on five or more transactions during the first eight months of the year.
By now it should be obvious that deal volume was down in the second quarter. The reasons aren't mysterious: Persisting inflation and a short spurt of bank failures beginning with Silicon Valley Bank signaled the drop in deals. But middle market deals, while down, have fared better than most, according to Boston-based Capstone Partners. This week's CDT Roundup explores their prediction that deal volume in the $100 million to $500 million range is set for a rebound — along with our summaries of a week that saw a whopping 27 transactions involving lots and lots of Texas-based lawyers.
In simultaneous acquisitions from three different sellers, Vital promises to add scale in the Permian Basin, increase cash flow and reduce leverage. Texas lawyers from six different firms were involved: Akin, Baker Botts, Jackson Walker, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins and Vinson & Elkins.
Kirkland dominated this week's Roundup with participation in four of the seven M&A/Fundings deals reported last week. But according to the firm, that's also been the case during the summer, especially in the energy sector. They provided some rankings from Deal Point Data to back that up. We tested their data against some numbers from our own Corporate Deal Tracker, and the results may reveal some good news for everyone. And, of course, there's the usual rundown of firms and lawyers involved in all the deals last week.
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