M&A: Not Just a Good Q3

In the third quarter of 2021 there were 437 M&A transactions involving Texas businesses in deals worth more than $84 billion. That’s 65 more than last quarter and 113 more than Q3 2020. But that’s not even the good part. According to exclusive data provided to The Texas Lawbook by the independent analytics firm Dealogic (see note below), it’s the best quarter since Q3 2014, when there were 477. Not just the best Q3; the best quarter in the past 28 quarters involving deals by Texas companies. To say the least, it comes at a very good time. As you can see in the chart adjacent, the YTD deal count for the first three quarters (1,160) matches exactly that of 2019, when many were predicting a vibrant market would continue through much of 2020. In fact, deal value at the third pole of 2021 ($466 billion) is double that of 2019 ($233 billion). It is probably no coincidence that Texas also saw the return last week of $80ppb oil this past week. But the broad range of deals across the industry spectrum suggests that the reemergence of oil & gas transactions was not the only factor in the new, hopeful…