Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Dykema's 20th anniversary M&A Outlook Survey is grounded in optimism, a far cry from the doom-saying that characterizes these final days of the presidential race. The survey, taken between late July and early August suggests that M&A may well thrive between now and mid-2025. The CDT Roundup takes a look at the apparent reasoning behind such optimism, along with the usual list of Texas-related transactions reported last week.
Chevron's announcement last week of a $6.5 billion divestiture of a couple of Canadian upstream interests reminded us that the California company is on the verge of relocating its C-Suite to Houston. But included, along with the household furniture and company file cabinets, is an ongoing beef with their new Texas neighbors, Exxon Mobil, over Chevron's proposed $53 billion merger with Hess Corp. The CDT Roundup catches up with recent developments regarding the disputed merger, along with the usual list of firms and lawyers behind last week's Texas-related transactions.
There's no way to play down 22 reported transactions for this week valued at more than $23 billion; it was a good week, especially when 15 of those are M&A and your capital markets deals include two IPOs. But in addition to the usual summary of all those deals, along with the firms and lawyers behind them, we take our quarterly look at the number of publicly-reported transactions we've handled in the CDT Roundup thus far in 2024.
The Dallas Fed each quarter surveys executives from six different business sectors. The Fed's surveys for the third quarter were released last week. The CDT Roundup looks at the one on energy, which reveals a peculiar lack of enthusiasm for a sector rampant with M&A. That, and the usual review of the firms and lawyers behind last week's modest number of transactions.
Since the record year of 2021, IPOs have been scarce by any standard. Even SPACs have been in decline. The two non-SPAC IPOs that reached the CDT Roundup last week hardly represent a bumper crop. But with 145 logged with the SEC so far this year, we may be on a pace for the most IPOs since 2021. The CDT Roundup takes a look at those two new IPOs and what they might tell us about the market in Texas and elsewhere — along with the usual summary of last week's Texas transactional action.
Private equity is back; particularly in middle market deals. Pitchbook says so in a report released last week. In their study of H1 data Pitchbook forecasts that middle market deal counts will reach 3,400 by the end of the year, with values of as much as $345 billion. That would make it the third-best year for middle market PE deals, ever. If you want particulars, look no further than this week's CDT Roundup, in which 13 of last week's 16 M&A/Funding deals involved some form of PE participation. The Roundup even has the names of the lawyers behind them.
Deals are all about numbers: enterprise value, debt, return on investment, EBITDA, yield, etc. The CDT this week looks at a few of the deals from last week whose terms were undisclosed but suggest values that could make a week look far better than it does on paper. That, along with the usual summaries of Texas-related deals reported last week — whether they had values attached or not.
Others are beginning to notice what The Texas Lawbook has been following for some time: that despite the carping of state lawmakers and fossil fuel grumps, renewables are being woven into the fabric of Texas energy — both in its dealmaking and its grid. The analysts at Preqin are the latest to say so out loud. This week's CDT Roundup has their observations along with the usual roster of last week's deals.
This week we honor a retiring colleague. She created the Corporate Deal Tracker Roundup seven years ago and has been the pulse of it since. But rest assured, the CDT Roundup has the usual rundown of the deals reported to us last week, along with names of the firms and lawyers behind them.
According to S&P Global, U.S. M&A deal value has declined between election day and year-end in four of the previous seven election cycles. That also means, of course, that in three of those seven cycles, deal value didn't decline. This week the CDT Roundup leans on a recent Morgan Stanley report that suggests that deal-making fundamentals this year are strong enough that the outcome of the upcoming election may not make much difference. Things can change, but with 25 deals reported last week valued at nearly $50 billion, a prediction of robust post-election M&A markets doesn't seem that far off the mark. As always, we have the deals and the names of those who worked on them.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.