#210: Getting Deals Done - Clay Brett

Always Be Building

This episode's guest is Clay Brett. Clay is a partner at Baker Botts, and leads a broad transactional practice, representing private equity investors, private credit investors, portfolio companies and financial institutions in M&A, capital formation, financing and joint venture deals.
While Clay has led transactions across sectors as a generalist, Clay is regarded as one of a handful of the most respected names in the private energy investment space.
Clay is uniquely positioned to give legal advice because he has experience in both operating companies as well as doing structured finance deals.
In this episode, we start with Clay's background and discuss his motivations for leaving corporate law to join a private equity backed E&P company. After a few years of operating upstream assets, his group raised additional private capital to deploy into DrillCos and other structured finance deals.
Clay is an expert in deal structuring and drops a ton of knowledge in this episode on how to get transactions across the finish line. You don't want to miss this one!
Enjoy the show!
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:01:51 - Clay's Introduction
00:02:37 - Clay's Career Journey
00:09:10 - Transition to Law
00:11:36 - Deal Making: A High-Level View
00:13:30 - Key Considerations in Deal Making
00:19:38 - Role of Rep and Warranty Insurance in Transactions
00:21:21 - Framing the Transaction
00:23:12 - Importance of Good Representation
00:24:29 - Understanding the Financial Impact
00:29:02 - Negotiation Tone and Relationship
00:30:23 - Deal Exhaustion and Loss of Trust
00:33:52 - Importance of Detailed Term Sheets
00:35:27 - Evolution of Millennial Phase
00:41:43 - The Investment Process
00:43:15 - Understanding the Drill Code Space
00:44:52 - Transitioning to Advisory and Legal Side
00:45:56 - Private Equity Space for Oil and Gas
00:53:34 - Challenges in Upstream Transactions
00:55:32 - Changes in Private Equity Funding
00:57:12 - Surviving in the Industry
00:58:03 - Opportunities in Lower Middle Market
01:00:58 - Transition and New Role
01:01:40 - Water Situation in Texas
01:03:00 - Interest in Storage and Carbon
01:03:26 - Contact Information