Iconic Texas Department Store Chain Neiman Marcus Sold to Saks for $2.65B
Willkie Farr advised the buyer while Sullivan & Cromwell assisted the Dallas-based seller, which Vogue once noted, "is Texas with a French accent."
CDT Roundup: 14 Deals, 16 Firms, 224 Lawyers, $8.2B
The Corporate Deal Tracker has noticed an uptick in capital transactions over the past few weeks. One firm that seems to be getting its share of CapM deals is Baker Botts. In June alone, BB reported more than $4 billion in 10 capital markets transactions. Claire Poole takes a look at the lawyers behind the action at BB, along with her usual summary of Texas-related deals and the lawyers behind them.
A&O Shearman’s Dallas Team Leads AI SPAC Deal
Dallas lawyers from A&O Shearman counseled Nidar, a data center provider for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing in India.
CDT Roundup: 19 Deals, 13 Firms, 239 Lawyers, $23.9B
Over the last few years, this space has seen more than a few deals involving Morgan Lewis Houston partner Jeff Dinerstein and his client Park Lawn, Inc., the Toronto-based purveyor of funerals, cremations and such. With the news this week that Park Lawn has agreed to be acquired for $1.2 billion, the CDT Roundup decided to review a few of Dinerstein's deals. And, of course, we include the usual summary of the lawyers and firms behind transactions reported last week.
Transactional Lawyers Fail to Materialize for Biz Court Positions
Litigators dominate the latest applications for the new business court judgeships, public records show. In the coming weeks, Gov. Greg Abbott will exercise his new power to select jurists to handle the new court’s docket of complex corporate governance and transactional disputes. A drafter of the legislation to create the specialized court system makes the case for ‘sit down’ lawyers to throw their names in the hat.
Texas Leading Dealmakers — CDT List Names, Firms, Genders, Locations and More
Nearly 500 Texas lawyers led M&A transactions in 2023. The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker has the complete list, ranking them by deal count and deal value, by law firm, city and gender. There are a few surprises, such as the number of associates who led or co-led mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures for buyers, sellers and targets. There are a few new names in the top 50, including at No. 1.
But the CDT lead dealmakers list provides some data that has become expected, including how a lot of the lead legal advisors work at only a handful of law firms or how the dealmakers in one city dominate all the other metros combined. And, of course, there is the issue of diversity — or lack thereof — of those who lead M&A transactions in Texas. This article documents the lead and co-lead Texas lawyers for buyers, sellers and targets and is the result of months of data research and reporting by Christi Trammell, Allen Pusey and Jeff Schnick. It was written by Mark Curriden.
Who the Hell is Kevin Henderson?
If ranking at the top of The Texas Lawbook's deal lists pisses off a few lawyers at Big Law firms in Texas, Kevin Henderson can live with that. In a way, he planned on it. He closed 30 transactions last year in an M&A space most of them wouldn't bother with, creating a space of his own with an unusual firm structured in an unusual way for an unusual market.
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.
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.
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.