Biography
Darrell Taylor is a Principal in the Houston office of Cokinos | Young, where he is a member of the Corporate & Real Estate Transactions practice group.
After practicing for more than twenty-five years, Darrell has an extensive history of supervising and documenting a multitude of transactional matters for large public companies as well as smaller private ventures. His areas of expertise are:
- Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, investments
- Debt and equity financings
- Contract and commercial matters
- Corporate governance and Board of Directors matters
Education
- University of Texas School of Law – J.D., with honors
- University of Texas at Austin – B.B.A Finance, with honors
Recognitions & Distinctions
- Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® (2008–2026): Corporate Law and Real Estate Law
Representative Experience
Served as lead M&A counsel for:
- Lyondell Chemical in its $13 billion acquisition by Access Industries
- Halliburton in its $2.4 billion IPO and split-off to its stockholders of its KBR subsidiary
- Pennzoil Products in its $1.6 billion combination with Quaker State
- PennzEnergy in its $4.7 billion merger with Devon
- Pennzoil-Quaker State in its $1.8 billion acquisition by Shell Oil
- BP in its sale of Altura oil and gas properties and assets to Occidental Petroleum for $1.8 billion
- Pennzoil in its $2.1 billion investment in Chevron
- Pennzoil in its $1.5 billion acquisition of oil and gas properties from Chevron
- Pennzoil in its $440 million investment in Burlington Resources
- Pennzoil in its $250 million acquisition of Facet Enterprises
- Purolator Products in its $250 million acquisition by Mark IV Industries
Served as supervising debt and equity financing counsel for:
- Halliburton – equity and debt issuances and debt exchanges in multiple offerings of over $4 billion
- Pennzoil – equity and debt issuances and debt exchanges in multiple offerings of over $4 billion
- Pennzoil-Quaker State – debt issuances in multiple offerings of over $1 billion
- Equistar Chemical – debt issuances in multiple offerings of over $2 billion
- Lyondell Chemical – debt issuances in multiple offerings of over $3 billion
- LyondellBasell Industries – debt issuance of $2.7 billion
- Millennium Chemical – debt exchanges of over $500 million
Served as a supervising compliance and SEC counsel for:
- KBR
- Halliburton
- Hydril
- Pennzoil
- Pennzoil-Quaker State
- PennzEnergy
- Purolator Products
- Lyondell Chemical
- LyondellBasell Industries
- Group 1 Automotive
Served as supervising counsel on IPOs and going public transactions for:
- LyondellBasell Industries N.V.
- KBR
- Lehman Brothers as lead underwriter – W&T Offshore, Inc.
- Lehman Brothers as lead underwriter – ATP Oil & Gas Corporation
- Merrill Lynch as lead underwriter – Energy Partners, Ltd.
- Hydril Company
- Equistar Chemical
- Pennzoil-Quaker State
- Cornell Companies
- Purolator Products
Major Accomplishments
Halliburton: Acted as lead securities and financing lawyer for a series of related transactions for Halliburton, including debt and equity financings of over $3 billion to fund asbestos trusts for subsidiaries in Chapter 11 proceedings; followed by separation of KBR engineering, procurement and construction business and related subsidiaries; and KBR’s subsequent $2.4 billion initial public offering and tax-free split-off to shareholders.
Pennzoil: Supervised the legal representation of Pennzoil Company in reinvestment of $3 billion litigation settlement, including $215 million acquisition of Co-Enerco, $440 million investment in Burlington Resources, and $2.1 billion investment in Chevron; followed by
- $1.5 billion acquisition of oil and gas properties from Chevron
- separation of Pennzoil upstream oil and gas business into PennzEnergy and subsequent $4.7 billion merger with Devon
- going public transaction and $1.6 billion combination of Quaker State and Pennzoil downstream business to form Pennzoil-Quaker State and subsequent $1.8 billion divestiture to Shell Oil