Texas Lawyer Features Michael Byrd’s Work on Back-To-Back Half-Billion-Dollar Deals
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Texas Lawyer featured Akin Gump oil and gas partner Michael Byrd in its article “Akin Gump Partner Leads Two Half-Billion Dollar Energy Deals in Three Weeks” for his work on the back-to-back Diamondback Energy and Newfield Exploration Co. deals.
The article notes that Byrd closed the two half-billion-dollar deals over a three-week period, during which time he worked a total of 230 hours on these transactions in addition to separately spending time on other client work. He told Texas Lawyer that he has never worked that intensely on back-to-back deals, adding, “Looking back, it was a lot of fun. I love what I do, and I love negotiation with reasonable business people and lawyers, and it was fun.”
Marc Dingler, deputy general counsel at Diamondback, noted that Byrd had drafted the purchase agreement within two days of receiving the information and closed the $538 million deal within seven days. He added, “It was pretty amazing to me. I must say I don’t recall ever turning anything so fast.”
For more information on the Diamondback deal, please click here.
Newfield senior legal counsel Jonathan Curth noted that the company’s $588 million transaction was complicated, involving mineral interests, financing, a transition services agreement, nonsolicitation issues and other unique deal features, which he characterized as “a half-dozen moving parts.”
Curth also noted that he and the Akin Gump team negotiated with three potential bidders for 10 consecutive days, finishing with a marathon 30-hour negotiation session in order to announce the sale by a July 29 deadline, thanks to the efforts of Byrd and his team.
For more information on the Newfield transaction, please click here.
To read the full article, please click here.