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Should the M&A market be preparing for a slow start to 2019? The data crunchers at Interlinks think so. They project first half growth of only 5 percent over H1 2018. Claire Poole explains their reasoning in her weekly CDT Roundup.
Merger and acquisition activity usually starts out the year slowly and then builds. Bloomberg has reported that last month was the best January for deals globally since 2000 with $275 billion worth of transactions. So if past patterns hold, 2019 could be a very big year for dealmaking. Claire Poole explains in her weekly CDT Roundup.
Barclays and Goldman Sachs top the 2018 league tables for investment banks advising on Texas deals. But the real story in exclusive Mergermarket data provided to The Texas Lawbook may be the trend toward fewer but bigger deals in the state and elsewhere. Claire Poole explains.
Locked in a five-year battle with V&E for top M&A firm in Texas, Kirkland represented more Texas-based companies in 2018 than any law firm in Texas history. New Mergermarket rankings show a growing separation between Kirkland and V&E, and even more separation between V&E and the rest of the pack. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
Blackstone Infrastructure Partners is acquiring a controlling interest in Tallgrass Energy for $3.3 billion. The purchase shows that private investors continue to have strong interest in the oil and gas industry despite lower commodity prices, particularly in the infrastructure part of the sector. Claire Poole reveals the names of lawyers and firms involved.
Mid-sized private equity deals were at record levels last year: up in volume by 15.1 percent and in value by 14.8 percent. But capital raised slipped a bit and the number of funds dropped more than 20 percent. Does that mean a mid-market slow-down is coming? Maybe not. Visible optimism still rules the markets, as Claire Poole explains.
Last year, 2018, was a good one for M&A. The deal count, a 12-year high, may have been the highest for Texas companies ever. The value of those deals was the second-best since 2007. But a sluggish fourth quarter gives pause for the new year, one that a Mergermarket expert describes as big dealmaking "in search of a catalyst." Claire Poole explains.
The management of Luby’s Inc. chalked up a big win on Friday – and so did several Sidley lawyers in Texas. The Houston-based restaurant chain beat back a proxy fight by Bandera, a New York-based investment firm run by Jeff Gramm, son of former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm. Claire Poole has the details.
M&A in the U.S. oil and gas exploration and production industry was hot in 2018, hitting its highest total in four years at $84.3 billion, according to Drillinginfo. Eight of the year’s top 10 deals were in the second half. But thanks to sliding oil prices, fourth-quarter deal value came in at $20.9 billion, a bit off from its third quarter 2018 high.
Trevor Wommack has left Vinson & Elkins to join Latham & Watkins as a partner in its finance group in Houston. The move, Latham's first significant lateral hiring since 2012, signifies the firm is in growth mode.
With the beginning of every new year comes a new round of data showing how dealmaking fared in the previous year – and projections of what’s to come. Last year was the most active year ever recorded for private equity-backed buyout deals, according to data from Preqin. Claire Poole has more insights from 2018 and highlights the deals of the past week.
The law firm said Monday it counseled Dallas-based Discovery Midstream Partners II and Discovery Midstream Holdings II management on a $1 billion initial equity commitment from Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners. Claire Poole has the details and the lawyers involved.
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