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Corporate Deal Tracker
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CDT SNAPSHOT
37.8%
In 2025, deal count for billion-dollar-plus deals increased by 37.8 percent versus 2024, and the aggregate valuations as a result soared between 2024 and 2025 by 41.7 percent.
CDT DATABASE YEAR-TO-DATE TRANSACTION TOTALS
FEB. 1, 2026
DEAL COUNT
44
DEAL VALUE
$22.4B
FEB. 1, 2025
DEAL COUNT
169
DEAL VALUE
$150.7B

Targa Buys Stakeholder Midstream for $1.25B

Targa Resources said Monday that it agreed to acquire Stakeholder Midstream for $1.25 billion in cash,  expanding the Houston midstream services provider’s footprint in the Permian Basin. Latham & Watkins represented Targa with a national team led by Houston partners Ryan Maierson and James Garrett. Willkie and Clifford Chance advised Stakeholder. 

Willkie's Texas-based team was led by Houston partner Sarah McLean. Gerald Shrader has been Targa's general counsel since December 2023.

Jason Philyaw

The 40-Year Legacy of Pennzoil v. Texaco — An Appeal for the Ages

Executives at Texaco woke up Nov. 20 — exactly 40 years ago today — like it was the morning after aliens attacked in the movie Independence Day. A day earlier, a Houston jury ruled the New York-based oil and gas giant had tortiously interfered with a 1984 agreement Getty Oil made to merge with Pennzoil and awarded Pennzoil $10.53 billion. Texaco’s stock took a beating — dropping from $80 per share when the litigation started to $32 the week following the trial. Some Wall Street analysts were openly warning about bankruptcy. The company’s convertible bonds plummeted in value. Texaco’s debt rating was cut by Standard & Poor’s. Interest accruing on the judgment was $2.8 million every single day.

Between Thanksgiving 1985 and Christmas 1987, the two energy companies and their ever-expanding roster of litigators did battle. The litigation itself multiplied, including a precedent-setting federal case in New York over Texaco’s appeals bond, a monumental appellate battle, a bizarre decision by the Texas Supreme Court, the world’s largest corporate bankruptcy at the time and a historic settlement.

Both sides hired major reinforcements — fresh legs and fresh eyes, if you will — as the trial teams had been going full speed for 21 straight months. The appeals team for Texaco beefed up with several heavy hitters from Fulbright & Jaworski and David Boies of Cravath in New York. Pennzoil added a Texas superstar in V&E’s Harry Reasoner and Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School.

In Part II of our series looking back at the significance of the Pennzoil v. Texaco trial, The Lawbook examines the post-verdict appeals, which were historic and precedent-setting.

Mark Curriden & Alexa Shrake

The Legacy of Pennzoil v. Texaco 40 Years Later — The Civil Jury Trial of the Century

Pennzoil v. Texaco's legacy remains significant, as it changed how companies handle mergers and acquisitions, caused the Chamber of Commerce to designate Texas as a judicial hellhole in 1986 and directly led to two decades of massive tort reform efforts that dramatically limited the rights of Texans to sue businesses, doctors and insurance companies for wrongdoing. It also launched Texas trial lawyer Joe Jamail to national stardom and made him the richest trial lawyer in American history. In this in-depth article, The Texas Lawbook provides a detailed timeline of the events involved in the historic litigation, as well as comments from more than a dozen lawyers about the legal strategies employed.

Mark Curriden & Alexa Shrake

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PE Firm Buys Topgolf in $1.1B Deal

Topgolf Callaway Brands said Tuesday that it sold a 60 percent stake in its Topgolf and Toptracer business to Los Angeles private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners in a deal valued at $1.1 billion, with the sale of the stake generating approximately $770 million for Topgolf Callaway. The deal is expected to close early next year.

Jeff Schnick

Electricity Is the New Oil: Texas Power Deals Top $100 Billion So Far This Year

Texas is at the center of a historic boom in power and utility M&A, fueled by the massive energy demands of data center expansions and the global power race driven by the AI revolution.

It’s no secret that energy, particularly in the form of electricity, has become the foundation of dealmaking in anticipation of the need for hyperscale computing and data storage.

But the demand for power and utility deals, large and small, would be hard to overstate. In the first three quarters of 2025, Texas lawyers handled more M&A transactions involving power and utility projects than in any full year since 2018. Not only are there more deals, but they are larger. Far larger. In the first three quarters of 2025, Texas-related deals in the power and utilities sector hit $106.5 billion. By comparison, the record-setting M&A year of 2021 saw eight P&U transactions totaling $3.7 billion. (Photo by Stephanie Tacy/NurPhoto via AP)

Allen Pusey

The 44 Law Firms in Texas in Billion-dollar Deal Club

Since 2018, Texas lawyers from 44 law firms have been the lead legal advisors to buyers, sellers or targets in 554 mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures with price tags of $1 billion or higher. Sixteen law firms in Texas have led or co-led 10 or more deals valued in the billions. The Texas Lawbook breaks down the data for Texas-led billion-dollar deals from its transactions database.

Mark Curriden

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