Middle-Market M&A Opportunities Abound in Texas Despite Broader Market Uncertainty
A Katten report shows that private equity dealmakers are split on the 2023 M&A outlook but see promise in technology and other sectors.
CDT Roundup: 21 Deals, 12 Firms, 178 Lawyers, $18.7B
That Texas has created an increasingly diverse economy is no secret. But the CDT Roundup this week notes something surprising: that Texas added more tech workers to its workforce in 2022 than any other state. What has that to do with dealmaking? Apparently, lots. Claire Poole takes a look at the rise in Texas-led tech deals that paralleled the rise in tech workers. Or was it vice versa? That, along with a look at the week in deals and the names of the 178 lawyers who worked on them.
Ovintiv Exits Bakken for Permian in Tandem Deals with EnCap Totaling $5.1B
Gibson Dunn, Kirkland & Ellis and Vinson & Elkins counseled the various parties in the pair of agreements with a total of 70 Texas lawyers in the mix. The deal includes what Ovintiv describes as "a unique undeveloped asset" involving "some of the best rock" in the Northern Midland Basin of the Permian.
Celanese GC Lynne Puckett Led DFW’s 2022 M&A Transaction of the Year
As a CIA intelligence officer focusing on Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lynne Puckett “got a ringside seat to the dissolution of Eastern Europe as communist-controlled in 1989. It was also when she realized she wanted to go to law school.
Three decades later, Puckett is the general counsel of Celanese Corporation, an Irving-based global chemical and specialty materials company with a market cap of $12 billion. In November 2022, Puckett and her legal team closed an $11 billion acquisition of a majority ownership in DuPont’s mobility and materials business.
Citing the deal’s extraordinary complexity, the Association of Corporate Counsel’s DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook named Puckett, her in-house legal team at Celanese and outside counsel at Baker Botts as the recipient of the 2022 DFW Corporate Counsel Award for M&A Transaction of the Year.
Energy Transfer buys EnCap’s Lotus for $1.45B
Vinson & Elkins, Sidley Austin and Shearman & Sterling advised on the cash and stock acquisition, which includes about 3,000 miles of pipeline through major areas of the Permian. After closing, Dallas-based Energy Transfer plans a new 30-mile connection with the Cushing hub in Oklahoma. Claire Poole details the deal and the names of the lawyers involved.
CDT Roundup: 7 Deals, 7 Firms, 78 Lawyers, $14B
It's been five years since New York-headquartered Shearman & Sterling opened its first offices in Texas. The CDT Roundup thought it might be a good time to check in with Bill Nelson, the head of those Texas offices. His thoughts about the transition and the changes he's seen in his practice are featured this week, along with a relatively skimpy roll call of the 78 lawyers who ignored spring break to turn in this week's roster of deals.
Latham Advises Incitec Pivot on $1.68B sale of Louisiana Ammonia Facility
The sale to CF Holdings, coupled with a long-term supply agreement, is part of a plan announced last November to spin off its industrial explosives subsidiary Dyno Nobel Americas. CF has energy transition upgrades planned for the site. Allen Pusey has the deal details, as well as the Latham lawyers involved.
CDT Roundup: 21 Deals, 17 Firms, 165 Lawyers, $11.6B
CERAWeek, the prestigious Houston energy confab, wrapped up last week. One of the more significant observations emerged from former Goldman Sachs analyst Arjun Murti, now a partner at Veritan. He thinks, for instance, it's time for the term "energy transition" to transition from a political Rorschach test to something more universal, understandable and verifiable. Claire Poole reflects on a few of his other observations in this week's CDT Roundup, along with the usual rollcall of deals and dealmakers who reported for duty during last week.
