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.
CDT: H1 2022 – A Time for Smaller Deals
The first half of the year in Texas M&A was dominated by the mid- to lower-market transactions, according to data gathered by The Texas Lawbook Corporate Deal Tracker. Although dealmaking was robust, the values of those deals declined dramatically. Of 507 deals reported by Texas lawyers, only a handful were valued at $5 billion or more, and deals valued at more than $1 billion declined dramatically from 2021. On the other hand, deals valued under $100 million help push the year's deal counts to impressive levels. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
Texas M&A Lawyers Look Ahead: More of the Same, Maybe
This week, The Texas Lawbook published new Corporate Deal Tracker data showing M&A lawyers were busier during the first six months of 2022 than they have ever been. The article quoted several of the state’s leading dealmakers on the trends they saw during H1 2022. Now, we asked those same M&A lawyers to look into their crystal balls for the second half of the year? The bottom line: Opinions differed.
Shell USA acquires Shell Midstream Partners for $1.96B
Shell USA announced Monday that it is paying $1.96 billion to acquire all outstanding stock of its subsidiary Shell Midstream Partners, which has assets involved in crude oil and refined products pipelines and terminals that serve as key infrastructure to transport onshore and offshore crude oil production to U.S. Gulf Coast and Midwest refining markets. The entities chose Houston lawyers from Baker Botts and Gibson Dunn as its legal advisors. The Lawbook has lawyer names and other details.
CDT Roundup: 11 Deals, 10 Firms, 92 Lawyers, $801M
Rumblings of a couple of deals in the offing involving properties owned by ConocoPhillips and Shell provided a touch of piquance to a week that was otherwise bland to the taste. The Roundup offers a few hints at what those deals might be, as well as its weekly run-down of the deals that actually happened, including the names of the Texas lawyers they involved.
Texas M&A Dealmaking Hits Another Record in H1 2022
Texas Corporate dealmakers thought there was no way 2022 could match the record number of M&A transactions they handled in H1 or H2 2021 - both were records. But new data from by The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker shows M&A activity hit another record high during the first six months of 2022 - albeit by an inch or so.
The dollar value of transactions declined significantly from the year before because there were no megadeals announced by the likes of AT&T, Chevron or Match.com. As you might expect, the energy sector led the way. The Texas Lawbook has the data and insight from the experts.
