V&E Counsels Brigham Minerals on $4.8B Stock Merger with Sitio
The combination would create a leader in the oil and gas mineral and royalty sector. Claire Poole has the details of the deal and the names of the lawyers involved.
Staying Busy: Baker Botts, Five Other Firms Top H1 CapM Rankings
During a down year for the capital markets practice in Texas, a handful of law firms stayed busy. None were busier than the lawyers at Baker Botts. Latham, V&E, Gibson Dunn, Hunton AK and Bracewell also had impressive showings for the first six months of 2022, according to The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker, which tracks securities offerings handled by lawyers in Texas.Updated
CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 10 Firms, 135 Lawyers, $30.9B
In a market when billion-dollar deals seem as elusive as $3 gasoline, a $30 billion deal would seem a game-changer. There was such a deal this week, but not in the way you might expect. The CDT Roundup explains, along with the usual list of Texas lawyers who made things happen.
CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 8 Firms, 152 Lawyers, $2B
If you need some perspective on the wild swings in the oil and gas industry over the past few years, look no further than Plano-based Denbury Resources. Denbury, which sought bankruptcy protection just a few years ago, is suddenly looking prosperous enough to be scouting for a viable suitor, according to Bloomberg. Claire Poole reports on the Denbury rebound, as well as a slate of a dozen deals reported to the Roundup last week.
Elite Law Firms Dominate Corp. Deal Tracker Law Firm M&A Rankings
Forty-four corporate law firms with offices in Texas reported that their lawyers in Texas played a substantive role in representing buyers, sellers, targets, conflicts committees, financial institutions and other third parties in various kinds of transactions in which assets were bought, sold or merged. A handful of elite law firms – Sidley, Kirkland, V&E, Latham, Gibson Dunn, to name a few – topped The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker law firm rankings for the first half of 2022. Several Texas-headquartered corporate firms also experienced a strong six months, including Haynes and Boone, Baker Botts, Akin Gump and Locke Lord. Four law firms had Texas lawyers who worked on nearly three-quarters of all the transactions that had deal values of $500 million or more.
Cynthia Mabry Leaves Akin for Gibson Dunn
Mabry was the co-lead of the climate change group at Akin Gump, where she made partner in 2020. She is the fourth corporate lateral partner hire Gibson Dunn has made in Texas this year.
Texas Lawyers to Feast on New Energy Law
Energy transition attorneys are gearing up for an uptick innovation investment and M&A activity expected to be spurred by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The IRA, signed yesterday by President Biden, contains $369 billion of climate and clean energy provisions, as well as $60 billion for environmental justice initiatives and provides incentives for substantial investments in rural communities. Significant to the Texas economy, the new law significantly rewrites the tax incentives for renewable energy and climate change mitigation under the federal tax code.
CDT Roundup: 18 Deals, 11 Firms, 242 Lawyers, $8B
In the first half of 2022, capital markets transactions reported by Texas lawyers were noticeable in their absence; but apparently, no more. What began as a summer in languish has heated up over the past few weeks. The Texas numbers mirror the broader market, according to a report by Enverus last week. The CDT Roundup has its own observations, as well as the usual listing of the recent deals Texas lawyers have been working on.
CDT Roundup: 24 Deals, 12 Firms, 240 Lawyers, $7.9B
Last week's 24 deals were plentiful and diverse: software for company benchmarking, energy distribution in Brazil, a Turkish mobile provider, recycled aggregates, carbon capture, aerial firefighting and even an upstream deal or two. But eyes are still on SPAC deals, which are facing some investor headwinds, and there were a few of them as well. The CDT Roundup explains and, as usual, names lots of names.
Devon Energy Scoops Up Validus, Expanding Position in Eagle Ford
Vinson & Elkins represented Validus while Kirkland & Ellis advised Devon on a deal that came as a surprise to analysts. Claire Poole has more on the transaction.
K/G’s Ryan Gravelle: “We’re a startup; we just sell legal widgets.”
Kastner Gravelle founding partner Ryan Gravelle wasn’t always a tech lawyer, but he says he got there as fast as he could. In this Q&A, the Austin corporate lawyer talks about the climate for startup funding and M&A for tech companies, competitors that have moved to Austin and how a potential recession will affect Austin's tech community.
CDT Roundup: 8 Deals, 9 Firms, 78 Lawyers, $6.9B
There are two energy deals this week — the week's two largest deals, in fact — that are both more, and less, than they seem. While on the surface they involve the mergers of large energy corporations, they are simply simplifications of two large corporate structures. What's going on here? The Corporate Deal Tracker Roundup has the details, as well as the names of all of the Texas lawyers behind this week's deals.
