US Silica, based in Katy, is to be taken private by Apollo. The deal values the company at $1.85 billion. The price being offered is $15.50, which represents an 18.7% premium to US Silica’s closing share price of $13.06 on April 25. The company primarily produces silica which is used as a proppant in fracking. It also produces diatomaceous earth which is used as a filtration product in various industries. The company has revenues of $1.5 billion. Long storied history The company traces its roots to two companies over 120 years old. The first is Pennsylvania Glass Sand Company, founded in 18 ..read more

Houston attorney, Clyde Moore, known in his advertisements as ‘Car Wreck Clyde’, has been indicted for defrauding injured clients of settlement funds. His office manager, Mark Broussard, was also indicted. The estimated amount of the fraud was $2.4 million. Moore is a personal injury lawyer. He and Broussard obtained cases by making cash payments to tow truck drivers, repair shop employees and others who would refer car-wreck cases to the firm. According to 2020 civil lawsuit filed by a client, the going rate was $1,000 for a ‘normal’ car accident and $1,500 for a commercial accident. The s ..read more

Microvast CFO, Craig Webster, is to step down and become special advisor to the CEO for one year. No immediate replacement has been named. Microvast manufactures lithium-ion batteries for commercial electric vehicles. It has a 1,400,000 sq.ft. factory in Huzhou, China and it is in the process of building a 577,000 sq. ft. facility in Clarksville, Tennessee. It has its corporate office in Stafford, TX with other facilities in Florida,  Colorado and Germany. The company got embroiled in political controversy last year. Originally it was awarded a $200 million grant from the Department of E ..read more

Dril-Quip, a publicly-traded company, is to merge with PE-backed Innovex. Both companies are in oilfield services, and both have their head office in Houston. It is an all-stock transaction with Dril-Quip shareholders owning 52% of the combined company. However, the company will be renamed Innovex International and the Innovex CEO and CFO will hold those roles in the combined company. Innovex had filed to go public in January 2024. Dril-Quip has a market capitalization of $825 million and revenues of $478 million and adjusted EBITDA of $59 million. Innovex has revenues of $556 million and a ..read more

The SEC has charged 17 individuals with running a $300 million Crypto Ponzi Scheme that targeted the Latino community. The company involved, CryptoFX LLC, and many of the individuals are based in Houston. The individuals behind CryptoFX are Maurico Chavez and Giorgio Benevenuto. Chavez founded the company in 2020, while Benevenuto assisted Chavez in operating it. The SEC filed an emergency action to halt the scheme in September 2022. They appointed a Receiver over the company and the assets of Chavez and Beneventuo. The Receiver reported that the company had raised at least $300,000 from ov ..read more

Carolyn Stone, CFO of Civeo Corporation, has left the company with immediate effect. Barclay Brewer, the Company’s VP and Controller, has been appointed interim CFO. The company has begun a search for a permanent CFO. Civeo, based in downtown Houston, provides temporary and long-term accommodations, primarily in the Canadian Oil Sands and Australian natural resource regions. The company has revenues of $700 million and a market capitalization of $365 million. It was spun off from Oil States International in 2014. Ms. Stone worked as a consultant to Oil States prior to the spin off and was a ..read more

Select Water Solutions, based in the Galleria area, has appointed Chris George as its CFO. He replaces Nick Swyka, who is leaving the company at the end of the month. Select provides water management and chemical solutions to the oil and gas industry. The company originally began operations in 2007 as Peak Oilfield Services. Then called Select Energy Services, it went public in 2017 through an IPO. The business has revenues of $1.6 billion and a market cap of just under $1 billion. Founder John Schmitz served as the CEO until its merger with Rockwater Energy Solutions in late 2017. He retur ..read more

Marathon Oil, based in west Houston, has appointed Rob White as its new CFO, effective May 1, 2024. He replaces Dane Whitehead, who told the company he intends to retire on July 1. Marathon Oil was originally part of Standard Oil, controlled by John Rockefeller.  In 1911, the US Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil be dissolved and split into 34 companies. One of those companies was The Ohio Oil Company, which was later renamed as Marathon Oil. In 2011, the refining and marketing assets were spun off into a separate entity called Marathon Petroleum (MPC). That company is based in Ohio ..read more

Tyler Loudon, a Houston resident, has pleaded guilty to insider trading. He made $1.8 million in illegal profits from the purchase and sale of stock market shares. Loudon’s wife was an associate manager in M&A working for BP. While working from home in December 2022, Loudon learned that BP was negotiating a deal to buy TravelCenters of America, a US publicly-traded company. Loudon purchased a series of options for TravelCenters in December, January and February, without telling his wife. BP announced the $1.3 billion deal in mid-February 2023. Loudon promptly exercised the options, nett ..read more

Flame Acquisition Corp, a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Corp) has completed the acquisition of assets from ExxonMobil and has been renamed Sable Offshore. Sable has bought the Santa Ynex oilfield that consists of 3 offshore platforms located in federal waters, 12 miles off the coast near Santa Barbara and an onshore processing facility at Las Flores Canyon. The offshore field had to stop production in 2015. A corroded onshore pipeline that runs parallel to US Highway 101 ruptured, releasing 2,934 barrels of oil into the ocean. Plains All American were the owners of the pipeline at the t ..read more