February was a difficult month for the energy sector, as winter storms battered many areas across the country. Some of the most notable effects of the storm were seen in Texas, where much of the U.S. energy industry is located. A new report from Offshore Technology now shows how much the impact these storms had on deal activity for the month.
Based on the new report, deal activity dropped by 14.93% when compared to the last 12-month average. A total of 57 deals were announced during the month, as opposed to the 67-deal average. The leading category for the month was mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with 35 deals that accounted for 61.4% of all deal activity. In second place was venture financing, with 17 deals, making up 29.8% of the overall deal activity. Private equity made up the remaining 8.8% of activity, with five transactions.
As for the value of the deals, M&A was also the leader in the category, with a total value of $11.14 billion. While private equity only had five deals, they had the second-highest total value at $6.2 billion. Venturing finance totaled a value of $162.68 million. While deal activity was lower than in January, the average value was significantly higher, as January had an average deal value of just $2.51 billion.
The top five deals of the month made up 87.8% of the total February value. The highest-valued deal was Energy Transfer’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Enable Midstream Partners. Second was the $5.2 billion private equity deal between Natural Gas Pipeline of America and ArcLight Capital Partners, followed by Lanxess’ $1.08bn acquisition of Emerald Kalama Chemical. KKR’s $1 billion private equity deal with Flow Control Group was the fourth-highest deal, and Grayson Mill Energy’s asset transaction with Equinor Energy for $900 million came in at fifth.
