David Oelman > Vinson & Elkins LLP > Houston, United States > Lawyer Profile

Vinson & Elkins LLP
Texas Tower
845 Texas Avenue, Suite 4700
Houston, Texas 77002
United States
David Oelman photo

Work Department

Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions

Position

Partner

Career

David Palmer Oelman co-heads V&E’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Capital Markets practice group and he is a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

David is one of the country’s preeminent IPO practitioners, having worked on more IPOs in the last three decades than all but a small handful of lawyers practicing in the U.S. across all industries. He has worked with issuers and underwriters across a broad spectrum of industries. David continues to counsel clients after completing their IPOs, and  is experienced in corporate governance matters, follow-on public offerings, private placements of equity and debt, mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures, and private equity investments. As David sees it, his three decade career has included three main components:

Midstream and Infrastructure

In the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, he advised on the initial public offerings of numerous midstream businesses, including for the predecessors of Kinder Morgan Inc., Energy Transfer, Plains All American Pipeline and dozens of others. This work has continued as midstream and other businesses have grown, including LNG and LNG-to-power companies.

Shale Revolution

Starting with his representation of Continental Resources on its IPO in 2007, David has been fortunate to represent a number of the pioneers of the “Shale Revolution” and over the past decade has worked with numerous upstream, downstream, and OFS businesses launched in its wake.

Energy Evolution

As David enters the next phase of his career, he looks forward to building energy evolution as traditional and renewable energy are combined most efficiently, and responsibly meet the world’s energy needs.

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings

Vinson & Elkins LLP’s capital markets practice is largely located in its Houston headquarters. Its engagements continue to be in the energy and infrastructure sectors, along with REITs and other industries; it represents a wide range of private equity portfolio companies. The firm remains active in both issuer and underwriter representation. It has achieved further recognition in green bonds and sustainability-linked bonds. David Oelman, David Stone and Douglas McWilliams are active partners in Houston, along with Christopher Green in Washington DC, who is noted for REIT offerings.

United States > Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings

Vinson & Elkins LLP remains best known for its work in the energy and infrastructure sectors, along with shipping, financial services, manufacturing, real estate and REITs, telecoms, transportation and technology. It routinely advises on IPOs, equity and at-the-market offerings. Its close links to private equity houses and their portfolio companies has brought it an even stronger deal flow in recent years. It has also experienced a notable uptick in renewable energy-related transactions and SPAC IPOs in recent times. Douglas McWilliams, Sarah Morgan, David Oelman and Ramey Layne are amongst the key names in Houston, along with Brenda Lenahan in New York.