M&A Plummets in Texas during H1 2015

© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.By Mark Curriden (July 9) – Corporate mergers and acquisitions in Texas declined dramatically during the first half of 2015, thanks to turbulence in the oil and gas industry. While deal-making nationally increased to a near record-setting pace, M&A activity involving Texas-based companies plummeted 28 percent during the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2014, according to Mergermarket, an independent global M&A research firm. Businesses headquartered in Texas participated in 357 mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures with a total deal value of $123.3 billion in 2015, compared to 498 such deals valued at $158 billion last year, reports Mergermarket, which produced the data exclusively for The Texas Lawbook. “Deal-making across nearly all business sectors – health care, technology, industrial, manufacturing and even restaurants – is strong and active,” said Rick Lacher, managing director of the Dallas office of investment bank Houlihan Lokey. “Everybody in our office is busy – not hair-on-fire busy like last year but very active,” Lacher said. Chad Watt, an M&A analyst and writer with Mergermarket, agrees. “Nearly every business sector except energy upstream has witnessed a solid year of deal-making,” Watt said. “If oil and…