CDT Roundup: 11 Deals, 11 Firms, 173 Lawyers, $5.5B

While the oil and gas business remains the endoskeleton of the Texas economy, oil and gas are currently living divergent performance experiences. Oil is experiencing boom times; natural gas, not so much. In such a market the semi-annual Haynes Boone borrowing base and price deck surveys can offer a valuable lenders'-eye view of the immediate future. The CDT Roundup mines the latest data, along with the usual survey of last week's Texas-related deals.

May 21, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 22 Deals, 14 Firms, 227 Lawyers, $14.9B

The $6.2 billion take-private sale of Minnesota utility Allete to a joint venture of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners would be noteworthy if just for the price tag alone. But a closer look reveals a common bond among the lawyers involved that graduates from noteworthy to extraordinary. The Roundup's Claire Poole takes that closer look, along with her usual list of Texas-related transactions reported last week.

May 14, 2024 Claire Poole

CDT Roundup: 13 Deals, 9 Firms, 87 Lawyers, $3.1B

If you happen upon a bank transaction in Texas (or even if it's not in Texas) there are a couple of lawyers you figure know something about it: Sandy Brown at Alston & Bird in Dallas and Chet Fenimore at Fenimore Kay Harrison in Austin. So, when Texas Dow Employees Credit Union announced its purchase of Sabine State Bank, The Roundup turned to them. Turns out, one of them was involved. CDT notes on that involvement, as well as the work of 87 lawyers who advised on deals last week.

May 7, 2024 Claire Poole

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