Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
In a $4.3 billion deal with Infrastructure Investments Fund, publicly-traded utility El Paso Electric Co. announced Monday that it has agreed to be taken private. Claire Poole has deal specifics and the potential implications for the City of El Paso.
Kirkland & Ellis, Vinson & Elkins and Latham & Watkins topped the charts in M&A deal value for Texas businesses during the first quarter of 2019. They also topped the charts in deal count, new Mergermarket data shows.
NASCAR Holdings will assume control of four new speedways, including the iconic ovals at Daytona and Talladega, after International Speedway Corp. accepted a $2 billion purchase offer. Claire Poole has the names of the Texas-based Baker Botts crew that helped push the deal to the finish line.
Dallas investment banker Josh Bammel left Generational Equity in 2007 to form Kratos Capital. He hasn't looked back. Specializing in transactions between $20 million and $75 million, Bammel just closed his 121st deal. He shares his perspectives on the business with Claire Poole.
Deal counts in Texas dropped precipitously in the first quarter of 2019. Although the count was over the much-valued 200 mark, deal values were even worse. The Lawbook's Claire Poole has the exclusive Mergermarket figures.
Occidental Petroleum didn’t go with a Texas lawyer for its $38 billion counter-bid for Anadarko Petroleum Corp., whose board already agreed to a $33 billion purchase by Chevron. The company chose Faiza Saeed, presiding partner at Cravath, whose media and entertainment clients have included Time Warner, Disney and DreamWorks. Still, Saeed is no stranger to the energy industry, as Claire Poole reveals.
Latham & Watkins partner Ryan Maierson has been very, very busy, leading three billion-dollar deals in the last month. The Lawbook's Claire Poole had a chance to talk to him about those deals and what they say about dealmaking right now.
Law firms in Texas are engaged in a fierce battle to represent businesses, private equity funds and banks involved in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures – and an estimated $3 billion in legal fees are at stake.
Although the first half of 2018 saw a flurry of energy IPOs, the decrease in oil and gas prices created a difficult IPO environment for the remainder of the year, and no energy IPOs by Texas-headquartered companies were completed during that time. As it turned out, all 13 of the Texas IPOs registered during 2018 were emerging growth companies. But there were some high points and a few emerging trends, and E. Ramey Layne and his colleagues at V&E discuss them at length.
With major M&A activity reduced to a few blockbuster simplification transactions and IPOs all but dead, the consensus of those on the floor at CERAWeek is that management is leery of deals when major investors have no interest. "We're going through a major period of adjustment," says Credit Suisse banker Osmar Abib. The Lawbook's Claire Poole reports.
© 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.
