We may be only halfway through 2026, but the megadeal scoreboard is already starting to look like a final season tally.
In the first six months alone, transactions valued at $1 billion or more with Texas ties (either Texas‑headquartered companies or deals that involved Lone Star lawyers) soared to 108, with a combined value of $869.4 billion.
By the end of last year, Texas dealmakers had already turned in one of their most active years ever, directing billion‑dollar deals across multiple industries. There were 186 transactions worth at least $1 billion involving Texas companies or Texas‑based counsel (or both), with a combined value of $888.3 billion, an impressive concentration of corporate activity on any state’s dealsheet. Now, with so many megadeals booked by June 30, this year is within striking distance of that full‑year record before July even ends.
The comparison to recent years underscores just how unusual this moment is, but that could be that we don’t recognize the new normal because we’re living in it.
In 2024, The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker recorded 135 Texas‑related deals of $1 billion or more, with an aggregate value of $627.2 billion. In 2023, the tally was 130 megadeals totaling $628.8 billion. Those figures were already impressive by anyone’s measure, sitting well above the 110 billion‑dollar transactions worth $479.9 billion recorded in 2021, the post‑pandemic rebound year that many firms had used as a measuring stick at the time. Against that backdrop, 108 deals and $869.4 billion in just six months look less like a continuation than acceleration. If the second half of this year merely matches the first, 2026 will blow past last year’s record.
The dollar totals are even crazier, but there’s a reason. More on that in a moment. In 2023 and 2024, aggregate valuations for billion‑dollar‑plus deals hovered a bit above $620 billion. In 2025, that figure jumped by more than 40 percent to $888.3 billion, a leap that already seemed extraordinary at the time. The first half of 2026 has nearly matched that full‑year total in half the time. That suggests not only more deals, but larger ones, a mix of transformative M&A and financing that drive complex tie-ups.
It’s important to note that not every transaction in this megadeal superconference is led by Texas lawyers. Some are driven by out-of-state lawyers, with Texas appearing on the roster because of a Houston‑based energy target, a Dallas private equity firm or an Austin tech company. But the majority of the transactions captured in this dataset have Texas‑based dealmakers in lead or co‑lead roles.
Running up the 2026 score at halftime raises obvious questions: What’s driving this velocity and is it sustainable? Some answers lie in the composition of the Texas economy, as cliché as that seems. Energy and infrastructure deals continue to generate outsized transaction values, especially in a period of ongoing consolidation and capital redeployment. At the same time, technology, healthcare, industrials, financial services and infrastructure have all gotten in on the megadeal game, spreading the billion‑dollar action across multiple sectors instead of concentrating it in a single industry. That diversification helps explain why the numbers keep climbing even if some sectors aren’t as hot by comparison.
Another part of the story is capital, too. Private equity, sovereign funds, infrastructure investors and strategic acquirers have all been deploying larger pools into Texas assets. Low‑cost capital may not be as abundant as it was in the zero‑interest era, but investors and purchasers alike appear willing to write bigger checks for platform acquisitions, spin‑offs and carveouts they believe will perform over the long term. For many of those transactions, Texas is either home base or a key piece of the footprint. That, in turn, anchors more of the megadeal work for Texas‑based law firms and offices.
This year also has been the year of SpaceX: Its $250 billion deal for xAI in February juiced the value numbers, as did NextEra Energy’s purchase of Dominion Energy for $66.8 billion in May. Those deals alone are the two biggest in CDT history, and they both hit in the first half. Then SpaceX spiked the football and exercised its option to buy Cursor for $60 billion last month. In a “normal” year, the Houston tie-up of Devon Energy buying Coterra for $58 billion in February would have been the deal of the year.
Instead, it’s just one more highlight on a scoreboard for an already lopsided 2026 halftime. And there’s still a whole second half of dealmaking left to play.
OK, cool. Hook ’em.