CDT Roundup: 10 Deals, 6 Firms, 28 Lawyers, $6.7B

M&A is "slowly on the mend," according to a new PitchBook report on global M&A activity. But like most statements of fact these days, that may depend on your point of view. In the first three months of 2024, M&A is down from Q4 2023, but that's okay. That previous quarter contained a few blockbuster deals and set a record valuation for energy M&A. The CDT Roundup this week looks a bit closer at the PitchBook metrics and even closer at the transactions reported last week. There are a few numbers that may surprise you.

April 30, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 19 Deals, 11 Firms, 147 Lawyers, $16B

In addition to its usual fare, the CDT Roundup this week includes a quarterly accounting of the volume and value of deals Texas firms reported to us during the first 13 weeks of 2024. It turns out we've logged a lot of lawyer names. We have that number, too.

April 23, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 13 Deals, 9 Firms, 76 Lawyers, $9B

The Roundup swings its spotlight in a different direction this week to focus on the fund formation world and a young lawyer to be reckoned with, Simpson Thacher partner Linda Tieh. The Harvard-trained lawyer earned her undergrad degree from the University of Texas, holds bar cards in New York and Texas and finds herself front and center in some of the largest and most complicated deals we cover, including our largest transaction this week. Claire Poole has more on Tieh's remarkable resume of transactions, as well as the usual summary of last week's deals.

April 16, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 23 Deals, 14 Firms, 222 Lawyers, $22.6B

We know it's routine for to push some older deals our way at the end of each quarter. Here at the CDT Roundup we sometimes imagine firms pulling out pockets and searching under seat cushions for league table qualifiers they might have missed. But sometimes in the late-arriving flotsam we find deal work worthy of mention, even though it has appeared on our doorstep a tad late. Such is the case of Justin Hoffman, a partner at Winston & Strawn in Houston, whose work leading more than a few capital markets transactions attracted our attention. We look at a few of those deals and a take in a few observations about his practice along with the usual summaries of last week's transactions and the lawyers behind them.

April 9, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 12 Deals, 8 Firms, 136 Lawyers, $9.3B

The end of Q1 this week suggests a healthy M&A market during the opening round of 2024, with deal volumes rising globally by 26 percent, with the U.S. volumes even high and topping the $400 billion value mark, according to data from Dealogic. Claire Poole examines the deals behind the data in this week's CDT Roundup and reviews the Easter week action on the Texas M&A front.

April 2, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 18 Deals, 17 Firms, 266 Lawyers, $5.5B

It was an unusual week for M&A, especially energy deals. Not just for the fact that there were so many of them, but for the fact that the flavor of the week was oilfield services. Claire Poole caught up with Gibson partner Gerry Spedale, who led the biggest deal reported last week for his longtime client Dril-Quip, a $1.5 billion merger agreement with Innovex Downhole Solutions. He shared a few insights on what is making energy M&A so attractive these days — and she shares her usual list of Texas-related deals.

March 26, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 21 Deals, 13 Firms, 186 Lawyers, $11.4B

Even with an economy that seems headed for a soft landing, there are bumps on the runway. And one of the biggest and most obvious bumps to dealmakers is in real estate — especially commercial real estate, which had problems even before Covid sent workers home. The tumble in CRE hasn't reached a crash, but a correction is coming, according to a recent report by PitchBook. The Roundup this week takes a look at the report and its relevance to Texas, where even a surge in employment hasn't managed to fill a growing number of office buildings. Those details and the usual rundown of last week's Texas-related deals.

March 19, 2024 Claire Poole & Allen Pusey

CDT Roundup: 23 Deals, 21 Firms, 218 Lawyers, $4.7B

When watching the M&A markets it's easy to become fixated on billion-dollar deals. But the bread-and-butter transactions of a truly healthy market lie in the middle. Having looked at the high-end last week, the CDT Roundup this week checks out Citizens Financial's 13th annual survey of CEOs, CFOs and private equity principals which found them warming up to what they see as an economy free of the kind of headwinds that have chilled expectations in recent years. And the data suggests a surge may be in the making as 8 in 10 PE firms see themselves as stronger buyers than they were in 2023. Claire Poole has the particulars along with the usual summary of Texas-related deal activity last week.

March 12, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 20 Deals, 19 Firms, 372 Lawyers, $9.1B

Maybe you've already noticed, but M&A is buzzing in the first two months of 2024. But the buzz is not just in Texas. At the moment things are buzzing globally and across sectors, according to a report by LSEG Deals Intelligence. Boosted by nine megadeals ($10 billion or more), M&A transactions announced through February were valued at $522 billion, up 75 percent over the same period in 2023. This week's CDT Roundup takes a look at the fine print in that LSEG report, along with the 20 deals reported by Texas lawyers last week.

March 5, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 19 Deals, 12 Firms, 248 Lawyers, $16.4B

Before Houston-based Intuitive Machines landed the first privately funded craft on the moon, they landed a merger partner and a major investor with the help of the Houston office of Latham & Watkins. This week, The Roundup looks back at those deals and the lawyers who worked on them — along with the $16 billion in Texas-related deals reported last week.

February 27, 2024 Claire Poole