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The value of M&A transactions in the energy sector plummeted 65 percent during in the first half of 2016. Overall corporate deals worth $500 million or more were down by 13 percent. Billion-dollar plus transactions were down 19 percent. Private deals are up. Deals involving bankruptcy assets are up. The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker has all the M&A data from H1 2016 and predictions for the rest of the year.

A Dallas jury ruled Tuesday evening that medical office executive Mehrdad Ghani committed fraud and breached the fiduciary relationship he had as part of a business partnership with North Dallas neurologist Erwin Cruz.

By overlaying a video game with the physical world, “Pokémon Go” creates a variety of situations in which companies may face legal action from game players as well as employees. The game’s owners, Japan-based Nintendo Ltd. and The Pokémon Company, have shielded themselves from lawsuits by requiring forced arbitration for any disputes arising from those who download the game. However, there are no such protections for unaffiliated companies that are dealing with all the existing and potential headaches – such as data breach concerns, business interruption and production loss and personal injuries – caused by “Pokémon Go” and its players.

Seven lawyers from Dallas and Houston were part of the Sidley Austin legal team that represented TSG Consumer Partners in its sale of IT Cosmetics to L’Oreal for $1.2 billion.

Merger-and-acquisition activity crawled along during the first half of 2016, but leading financial advisers in Texas predict an acceleration of deal flow and size before the end of year. Financial advisers from KPMG, Tudor Pickering Holt, Grant Thornton and Anderson King Energy say they expect private equity firms and traditional investors in the oil patch to return to the deal market later after sitting on the sidelines for the past 18 months.

Merger-and-acquisition activity crawled along during the first half of 2016, but leading financial advisers in Texas predict an acceleration of deal flow and size before the end of year. Financial advisers from KPMG, Tudor Pickering Holt, Grant Thornton and Anderson King Energy say they expect private equity firms and traditional investors in the oil patch to return to the deal market later after sitting on the sidelines for the past 18 months.

M&A lawyers in Texas who thought the first quarter was bad should brace for even worse news. Deal count was pathetically low during the second quarter of 2016 and the value of the transactions that were announced plummeted to lows the market has not seen since 2009 and the Great Recession. In addition, an increasing number of large deals being considered fell apart before closing.