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Panelists from five firms at the UT Law M&A Institute on Thursday concluded that ESG issues, both financial and legal, are moving toward greater focus in M&A transactions; perhaps at different paces depending on industry or geography, but evolving nonetheless in ways that need the attention of lawyers.
Vowing to pursue a net-zero emissions strategy when it was formed just two-and-a-half years ago with the merger of two Denver-based producers, Civitas has been aggressive in its acquisition of assets in the Permian and Denver-Julesburg Basins. And Vitol, a global energy giant, has been an active player in virtually every energy platform available in the U.S. Lower 48.
Shawn O’Brien was previously the co-head of the energy tax practice at Mayer Brown.
With the announcement of a joint venture between the Houston Astros and the Houston Rockets, Houston sports fans can breathe a sigh of relief that, at least, for the immediate future they will be able to witness live sports on live TV. But a bankruptcy filed in March in Houston remains the center of similar sports storms in cities from New York to San Diego.
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.
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