9 June 2024 The Law Firms Behind The Biggest Energy M&A

Full Disclosure:​

The Law Firms Behind The Biggest Energy M&A​

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Hi Reader 👋🏽,


The Story: Right now, big energy companies are buying other big energy companies - these are among the biggest M&A deals in 23/24.

You might have seen the recent press around BHP trying to buy Anglo American (with Slaughters/Linklaters advising).

This all kicked off when Exxon announced it was buying Pioneer for $59.5bn last October. This was soon followed by Chevron announcing its acquisition of Hess for $53bn.

Since then, we’ve seen:

- Occidental is buying CrownRock for $12bn (Dec 23)
- Diamondback is buying Endeavour Energy for $26bn (Feb 24)
- ConocoPhillips is buying Marathon Oil for $17.1bn (May 24)

Despite all the discussions about renewable energy, these US energy companies are betting on the long-term future of energy and gas demand.

The M&A deals give access to resources to produce more oil, like the Permian Basin (a huge oil field) in the case of Exxon/Pioneer.

What does this mean for law firms? You can get a sense for the big players in energy M&A here, like Wachtell, Kirkland, Gibson Dunn, Paul Weiss and Vinson & Elkins.

It makes sense that these are US firms given they are US deals - but it also shows why access to the US market is so important given these are some of the biggest M&A deals altogether in 2023/24. Plus it's a good hedge given the general slowdown in M&A last year.

Not all of the firms have a presence in Houston, often called the 'energy capital of the world'. Vinson & Elkins started there, but Latham only opened its office there in 2010, followed by Kirkland in 2014. Wachtell/ Paul Weiss don’t yet have an office there.

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Have any thoughts? I'd love to hear your perspective below!