CDT Roundup: 14 Deals, 9 Firms, 179 Lawyers, $7.2B

On Feb. 5, Houston-based Mattress Firm was finally sold to Tempur Sealy, the largest mattress manufacturer on the globe. It only took 639 days. Blocked by the Federal Trade Commission, the deal had been unblocked on Jan. 31 by a Houston federal judge. Shaking off some provocative language found in Tempur Sealy company emails, Judge Charles Eskridge decided that the FTC not only misunderstood the mattress market, but effectively ignored the very class of consumers he expected them to protect. The CDT Roundup looks at the end of the long-running transaction, as well as the Texas-related transactions reported last week.

February 10, 2025 Allen Pusey & Nick Peck

CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 7 Firms, 200 Lawyers, $10.1B

The fourth quarter of 2024 showed a decline in M&A transactions in Texas and, it turns out, everywhere else. But that doesn't necessarily mean that M&A deals are heading for problems this year, says Pitchbook in its annual review of global M&A activity. The CDT Roundup takes a particular look at what it might mean for PE activity, which has been a soft spot in recent years. And, of course, we include the usual list of deals reported last week in Texas.

February 3, 2025 Nick Peck

CDT Roundup: 14 Deals, 10 Firms, 125 Lawyers, $10.3B

Last year was a year of transition, particularly in M&A. According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, that augurs a really optimistic outlook for M&A in 2025. Simplifications in strategies, governance and geography are driving a surge in M&A, particularly the corporate variety. This week's Roundup looks at the data behind the Goldman optimism, as well as the deals that shaped last week.

January 27, 2025 Nick Peck & Allen Pusey

CDT Roundup: 19 Deals, 15 Firms, 316 Lawyers, $7.4B

Along with the explosion of investment in AI comes a parallel eruption of potential threats. As a result, consultants at McKinsey suggest that the current, addressable market for cybersecurity is $2 trillion — about 10 times what is actually being spent. This week's CDT Roundup looks at a noticeable uptick in cybersecurity deals as well as the usual roll call of the Texas lawyers involved in last week's reported deals.

January 20, 2025 Allen Pusey & Nick Peck

CDT Roundup: 21 Deals, 16 Firms, 187 Lawyers, $33.6 billion

There have been a number of utility/power deals in recent weeks, but none that seemed more significant than Constellation Energy's $26.6 billion acquisition of Houston's Calpine Energy. The deal is significant, not only for its size, but for what it says about our understanding of energy transition. Coupled, of course, with the usual CDT Roundup survey of last week's Texas-related energy transactions.

January 13, 2025 Allen Pusey & Nick Peck

CDT Roundup: 9 Deals, 12 Firms, 80 Lawyers, $6.8B

With a new year upon us, it's a time for reflection and evaluation. You know what we mean: numbers. Here at the CDT Roundup, in case you haven't noticed, we believe in numbers. We worship numbers. Even our headlines are numbers — with just enough words to let you know what we are counting: "Deals, Firms, Lawyers, Money." But we also keep track of the numbers we write about.

January 6, 2025 Allen Pusey & Nick Peck

CDT Roundup: 11 Deals, 9 Firms, 92 Lawyers, $2.8B

Just in time for Christmas, DOE has published its months-awaited study on the economic and environmental effects of LNG exports. The report was promised in January as a rationale for the Biden Administration's decision to pause permitting of new LNG export processing facilities. The CDT Roundup takes a brief look at the exhaustive study and wonders if DOE has missed the irony in its concern about the effect of LNG exports on future natural gas prices That, and the usual review of last week's major Texas-related transactions.

December 23, 2024 Nick Peck & Allen Pusey

CDT Roundup: 15 Deals, 12 Firms, 186 Lawyers, $5.3B

The biggest deal reported last week was the $2.4 billion sale of "non-core" assets along the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast by Dow, the chemical giant. The sale involved a 40 percent stake in Dow InfraCo sold to alternative asset manage Macquarie. The deal is only the latest in a series of "non-core" sell-offs, a phrase that is becoming as common as "consolidation" in the current market. The CDT takes a look at the "non-core" transaction trend and an observer of the Dow deal who less than impressed. And, of course, the usual report on last week's deals and dealmakers.

December 16, 2024 Allen Pusey

CDT Roundup: 16 Deals, 10 Firms, 231 Lawyers, $4.8B

In the year that will soon be past, the sheer volume of energy-related, or energy-adjacent transactions are worth noting. Whether in O&G per se, data center energy demands or the more mundane multitude of PE acquisitions in HVAC manufacturing and service companies, the sides seem okay with the value. So, we weren’t that surprised by the November findings of the semi-annual Haynes Boone Borrowing Base Redeterminations Survey. The CDT Roundup takes a look at the details, along with the usual run-down of the week's M&A deals and the lawyers behind them.

December 9, 2024 Allen Pusey

CDT Roundup: 10 Deals, 9 Firms, 103 Lawyers, $10.3B

As we approach the end of 2024, it's crucial to ensure that your submissions to the Corporate Deal Tracker are fully credited. The Texas Lawbook’s M&A team is committed to identifying all relevant submissions for deals involving Texas-based lawyers, and we want to make sure that no qualified deal from your firm goes unaccounted for. That and more, including last week's deals, in this edition of the CDT Roundup.

December 2, 2024 Allen Pusey