Baker Botts has ranked nationally in the top 20 law firms in mergers and acquisitions for more than five years. The firm's long-standing position as principal legal counsel to many companies in the energy sector has led to our having a major role in the restructuring of various parts of that sector of American business.

Our M&A practice is global in reach and spans, in addition to energy, virtually every industry sector, including media, technology, health care and manufacturing. We have advised clients in merger and acquisition transactions ranging in size from small transactions to over $55 billion international business combinations. Since the early 1980s, we have been active in representing both targets and bidders in numerous unsolicited acquisition attempts and proxy fights. We handle a variety of international business transactions and regulatory problems in acquisitions on behalf of domestic and international clients. Our lawyers are experienced in all aspects of business acquisitions, and the firm has represented various global investment banking firms acting as financial advisors in acquisition transactions.

Selected Experience

• Liberty Media Corporation – $42 billion split-off from its parent, AT&T Corp; $8 billion spin-off of its 100 percent interest in Ascent Media Group and 50 percent interest in Discovery Communications, Inc.
• Hydril Company – $2.1 billion acquisition by Tenaris S.A.
• Lyondell Chemical Company – $3.6 billion acquisition of Millennium Chemicals Inc.; $2.1 billion buyout of CITGO Petroleum Corporation's interest in the Lyondell-CITGO refining joint venture; $1.2 billion sale of its worldwide inorganic chemicals business to National Titanium Dioxide Company Ltd. (Cristal); $535 million joint venture with China's Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical to build a propylene oxide/styrene manufacturing facility in Ningbo, China
• TXU Corp. – advisory chairman to the investment group of new owners in the company's going private transaction
• Transocean Inc. – $9 billion acquisition of R&B Falcon Corporation
• Special Committee of Triad Hospitals, Inc. – $6.4 billion acquisition by CCMP Capital Advisors and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
• Universal Compression Holdings, Inc. – $3.8 billion merger of equals with Hanover Compressor Company
• Centex Corporation – $575 million sale of Centex Home Equity Company, LLC, to Fortress Investment Group LLC; $422 million sale of Centex Construction Group to Balfour Beatty PLC
• Dominion Resources Inc. – planned auction of exploration and production assets
• CenterPoint Energy Inc. – $3.7 billion going private transaction and sale of Texas Genco to a consortium of private equity firms
• Global Marine Inc. – $3.9 billion merger with Santa Fe International Corporation to form GlobalSantaFe Corporation
• Marathon Oil Corporation – $3.7 billion acquisition of Ashland Inc's joint venture interest in Marathon Ashland Petroleum
• Dynegy Inc. – proposed $23 billion acquisition of Enron Corp., its subsequent termination of the merger agreement, and related litigation

Recent Rankings

In Corporate Counsel's September 2006 "Who Represents America's Biggest Companies" survey of Fortune 250 companies, Baker Botts ranked 4th among U.S. firms as a "go-to" firm for Corporate Transactions.

In the 2004, 2005 and 2006 editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, our Corporate/M&A and Technology practices are ranked 1st in the state of Texas.