White & Case has further fortified its capital markets practice in Houston with a third lateral hire from Baker Botts.
The announcement of Laura Katherine Mann’s arrival comes two weeks after A.J. Ericksen and Jason Rocha made their moves official. Mann said White & Case’s strength in capital markets and mergers and acquisitions coupled with its international presence provided a “truly differentiated offering” for her clients.
“White & Case is a top notch energy firm,” said Mann, who was a special counsel at Baker Botts and becomes a partner at her new firm with the move. “[The] Houston office has been growing rapidly, and it is very exciting to be a part of something with so much momentum.”
Mann advised CenterPoint Energy on a variety of financings over the past year, including several debt offerings and a $1.4 billion equity investment from Elliott Management, Fidelity, Bluescape Energy Partners and other mutual fund families.
Also in the last 12 months, Mann worked closely with Ericksen on two transactions for Delek US Holdings – a $484 million equity exchange and a $48 million dropdown transaction. In another matter, she assisted Houston-based Forum Energy Technologies in its disposition of several of its valve brands.
Most recently, Mann was part of the Baker Botts deal team that represented the conflicts committee of the board of directors of Noble Midstream’s general partner in Chevron’s $1.3 billion take-private simplification deal for Noble last month.
A healthier oil price environment and the ongoing energy transition have made it an exciting time to be an energy lawyer in Houston, Mann says.
“We are seeing an uptick in opportunistic financings, as companies pivot away from restructuring, as well as strategic M&A transactions as companies optimize their portfolios,” she noted.