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Deals are being terminated or renegotiated all over the place due to the coronavirus and fallen oil prices, with one seller in Texas taking a 30% haircut. Meanwhile, deal activity among Texas lawyers is beginning to slide with no letup in sight.
For 51 consecutive quarters, energy was the dominant sector for M&A in Texas. That streak ended during the first three months of 2020, as M&A activity plunged in deal value to levels not witnessed since the Great Recession. Not one of the seven biggest-dollar Texas deals had anything to do with oil and gas, according to Mergermarket. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
First quarter global M&A activity fell back to levels not seen since 2013 with U.S. results eerily similar to 2008. Meanwhile, dealmaking involving Texas lawyers keeps chugging along thanks to transactions already in the works and some companies’ moves to shore up liquidity.
Commodity prices fell precipitously in the first quarter of 2020 as crude producers are getting hit on both the supply and demand sides. The U.S. is reportedly only weeks away from running out of crude oil storage capacity. Many E&P and midstream companies are evaluating whether to reduce production or pipeline capacity and/or shut in wells. The issue became more urgent last weekend when the Texas Railroad Commission reported that some oil companies are already receiving letters from shippers demanding production cuts and citing the unavailability of storage capacity.
The results contrast with Haynes and Boone’s fall survey, which found the largest share of respondents predicting a 10% decrease during redetermination season.
Preliminary data shows that global deal value slid 28% in the first quarter, with private equity firms making up a bigger chunk. Texas dealmakers haven’t been immune, although last week saw flat activity year-over-year with deal closings, restructuring work and private equity reloading to hunt for opportunities.
The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker documents all M&A activity and securities offerings handled by in-house and outside counsel in Texas. Today, The Lawbook publishes a list of the 139 IPOs and equity and debt offerings that Texas lawyers worked on in 2019.
Russia took the world by surprise three weeks ago by refusing to limit its oil production in the interest of supporting prices. Saudi Arabia responded by increasing production to record levels, driving down oil prices. This article examines whether the seeds for Russia’s sudden move were planted by the Trump administration’s expansive use of economic sanctions or even Iran's attack on Saudi oilfields.
Exclusive data collected by The Texas Lawbook's Corporate Deal Tracker shows that transactions handled by lawyers in the state dropped by a quarter on a volume and value basis last year, thanks to the unpopular oil and gas sector. And 2020 is expected to be much worse given the coronavirus, uncertainty in the financial markets and low oil prices.
Simpson Thacher picks up a former Blackstone managing director while a Texas utility brings on a Kirkland associate as general counsel.
Two big transactions involving Texas lawyers helped move the value needle last week, despite shaky-looking deals in the rest of the M&A world thanks to the coronavirus.
If a Texas lawyer works on an M&A transaction, The Texas Lawbook's exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker database documents it. Today, The Lawbook has published our master list of all non-confidential transactions from 2019. The Corporate Deal Tracker lists the lawyers and law firms who represented the buyers and sellers in all 303 transactions.
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