Austin S. Paalz

• Represented Quanta Services, Inc. in its acquisition of Cupertino Electric, Inc., a California based electrical infrastructure solutions provider to the technology, renewable energy and data center industries, for $1.54 billion in cash and Quanta common stock.
• Represented Quantum Capital Group in its $3 billion acquisition of Cogentrix Energy from The Carlyle Group. The Cogentrix platform is comprised of 5.3 gigawatts of efficient and flexible natural gas-fired power plants, located throughout PJM, ERCOT and ISO-NE.
• Represented CENTAURI Technologies, LP, a technology-driven manufacturer of specialty materials and chemical formulations, in its sale to Aurorium (formerly Vertellus), a portfolio company of Pritzker Private Capital.
• Represented a US development company on the sale of numerous battery energy storage projects totaling approximately 4.4 gigawatts of anticipated operational capacity.
• Represented Kraton Corporation in its $2.5 billion sale to DL Chemical Co.
• Represented a NASDAQ-listed oilfield services company in conjunction with its acquisition of two private-equity owned energy services companies focused on supplying proprietary oilfield services technology
• Represented ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC in connection with the acquisition of a natural gas gathering system in the Haynesville basin of Louisiana and Texas.
• Represented Sunny Sky Products, LLC, a portfolio company of Seidler Equity Partners, on its sale to a subsidiary of The Jordan Company.
• Represented The Carlyle Group and its portfolio company, Cogentrix Energy Power Management, LLC, on the sale of a 600 MW portfolio of six operating wind projects in New York.
• Represented a Houston based producer and midstream services company on its sale and related joint venture arrangement with a major Mexican private investment company.
• Represented a Houston-based investment firm and its portfolio company in a merger with and into a technology-based provider of security and automation services.
• Represented Shell New Energies US LLC, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, on the purchase of Inspire Energy Capital LLC, a renewable energy residential retailer serving approximately 235,000 residential customers across the U.S.
• Represented Amarillo Midstream, LLC & Rattler Ajax Processing LLC on the divestment of the Amarillo Rattler, LLC joint venture to EnLink Midstream Operating, LP.
• Represented Kinder Morgan, Inc. on its acquisition of Indianapolis-based Kinetrex Energy, a rapidly growing renewable natural gas player, from an affiliate of Parallel49 Equity.

Austin Paalz is a corporate attorney in our Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity practice. Austin focuses his practice on advising public and private companies, including private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and family-owned companies with respect to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, project development, other complex commercial transactions, and general corporate and business matters.

Austin has extensive experience across a wide range of industries, including energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, distribution, industrials services, printing and paper, packaging, food and beverage, engineered materials, renewable energy, oilfield equipment and healthcare.

Before joining King & Spalding, Austin graduated with High Honors from Emory University School of Law in 2020 and was invited to join the Order of the Coif. While in law school, he was an Executive Managing Editor on the Emory Law Journal. Austin also had his work, Patent Wars: The Attack of Blockchain, published in the Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal in 2020.