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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.
Year-to-date, there have been 136 deals valued at $42.58 billion - about the same number of transactions at this time last year but 46 percent less in terms of value ($78.8 billion). Capital markets activity continued to build this past week, with six transactions valued at $1.262 billion versus 14 M&A/private equity/venture capital deals worth $1.771 billion. Texas Lawbook Senior M&A Writer Claire Poole has the inside details.
Lawyers in Texas reported work on 18 percent more transactions last year than in 2017 with $1 billion-plus deals dominating the activity. Claire Poole takes a deep dive into data collected exclusively by The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker.
Houston-based Targa Resources Corp. announced Tuesday that it agreed to sell 45 percent of North Dakota unit Targa Badlands to funds managed by GSO Capital Partners and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities for $1.6 billion in cash. Claire Poole has the details.
Here are the top 50 M&A transactions involving Texas-headquartered companies in 2018 as compiled exclusively for The Texas Lawbook by Mergermarket.
Barclays and Goldman Sachs top the 2018 league tables for investment banks advising on Texas deals. But the real story in exclusive Mergermarket data provided to The Texas Lawbook may be the trend toward fewer but bigger deals in the state and elsewhere. Claire Poole explains.
Locked in a five-year battle with V&E for top M&A firm in Texas, Kirkland represented more Texas-based companies in 2018 than any law firm in Texas history. New Mergermarket rankings show a growing separation between Kirkland and V&E, and even more separation between V&E and the rest of the pack. The Texas Lawbook has the details.
Last year, 2018, was a good one for M&A. The deal count, a 12-year high, may have been the highest for Texas companies ever. The value of those deals was the second-best since 2007. But a sluggish fourth quarter gives pause for the new year, one that a Mergermarket expert describes as big dealmaking "in search of a catalyst." Claire Poole explains.
The management of Luby’s Inc. chalked up a big win on Friday – and so did several Sidley lawyers in Texas. The Houston-based restaurant chain beat back a proxy fight by Bandera, a New York-based investment firm run by Jeff Gramm, son of former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm. Claire Poole has the details.
It’s not much fun to be general counsel of a company going through a sale which, if successful, would likely put you out of a job. But Jim Mutrie handled his company’s $9.5 billion sale to Concho Resources last year like a pro. Now he's RSP Permian's former general counsel and a finalist for an Outstanding Corporate Counsel Award.
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