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U.S. M&A activity in 2023 was dominated by blockbuster dealmaking as the stars aligned to balance the bid-ask spread between buyers and sellers. Companies were looking to consolidate their footprint in premier basins such as the Permian Basin, where scale remains the name of the game. The result? A whopping spending spree of some $250 billion by year-end.
By the time the year closed, four companies were in position to control 58% of the West Texas and eastern New Mexico juggernaut.
But while most of the companies involved are well-known to insiders and general observers alike, the folks behind the deals, crunching numbers and working the phones generally have less notoriety—despite their expertise being a key ingredient in successful transactions.
Founded in London in 2015, MergerLinks rates dealmakers and firms engaged in transactions across a variety of industries. And in 2023, the firm took note of the U.S. oil and gas activity to call out the top dealmakers involved in the transactions reshaping the space.
“The MergerLinks rankings are based on the value of announced M&A transactions each banker has led in 2023,” CEO Bartosz Jaskula told Hart Energy. The firm uses “hundreds of public data sources augmented by direct advisory firms and individual dealmakers’ deal submissions to compile its rankings.”
No. 1
Suhail Sikhtian, global head of natural resources investment banking, Goldman Sachs
Total Deals: 5
Total Value: $147.56 billion
Key Deals (buyer is listed first): Occidental Petroleum-Crownrock, Chevron Corp.-Hess Corp., Exxon Mobil-Pioneer Natural Resources, Civitas Resources, Ovintiv-Piedra Resources
No. 2
Aaron Hoover, managing director, Morgan Stanley
Total Deals: 3
Total Value: $145.57 billion
Key Deals: Chevron Corp-Hess Corp., Exxon Mobil-Pioneer Natural Resources, ONEOK Inc.-Magellan Midstream Partners
No. 3
Greg Weinberger, Morgan Stanley
Total Deals: 3
Total Value: $134.38 billion
Key Deals: Chevron Corp-Hess Corp., Exxon Mobil-Pioneer Natural Resources, Chevron-PDC Energy
No. 4
Patrick Ramsey, co-head of global M&A, Bank of America
Total Deals: 2
Total Value: $77.33 billion
Key Deals: Occidental Petroleum-Crownrock, Exxon Mobil-Pioneer Natural Resources
No. 5
Dan Ward, senior managing director, Evercore
Total Deals: 6
Total Value: $73.25 billion
Key Deals: Chevron-Hess, Viper Energy Partners-Warwick Capital Partners/Energy Capital, Silverbow Resources-Chesapeake Energy Corp., Chevron-PDC Energy, Ineos Group Ltd.-Chesapeake, Wildfire Energy I-Chesapeake
No. 6
Claudio Sauer, co-head of energy, Citigroup
Total Deals: 2
Deal Value: $70.14 billion
Key Deals: Exxon-Pioneer, Exxon-Denbury Inc.
No. 7
Jon Hughes, managing partner, Petrie Partners
Total Deals: 1
Deal Value: $65.44 billion
Key Deals: Exxon-Pioneer
No. 8
Raymond B. Strong, senior managing director, Evercore
Total Deals: 2
Deal Value: $8.72 billion
Key Deals: Phillips 66 Co.-DCP Midstream
No. 9
Michael Cannon, managing director, Bank of America
Total Deals: 1
Deal Value: $6.95 billion
Key Deals: Energy Transfer LP-Crestwood Equity Partners LP
No. 10
Jonathan Cox, co-head of energy investment banking, JP Morgan
Total Deals: 1
Deal Value: $4.7 billion
Key Deals: Exxon-Denbury
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