W. Gregory Looser

Partner
713.917.0024
greg.looser@dtlawyers.com
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Biography

Greg’s career has spanned over 30 years in law, governance, international business, and advisory services. He began his career as an appellate clerk and was then an attorney with Bracewell, LLP.

Greg was Senior Vice President and General Counsel, and later Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, of Pride International, Inc., one of the largest public global energy contractors, for approximately 12 years prior to its merger with Ensco plc, now Valaris plc.  He was Co-Founder, Partner, Director, and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of Clarion Ventures, LLC, after serving in the same capacities for Clarion Offshore Partners, LLC, a partnership formed with The Blackstone Group.  Greg also served as a Senior Advisor to Revelation, L.P., a highly specialized, multi-disciplinary team of business strategists, crisis management professionals, compliance and litigation scientists providing advisory services in complex business and legal matters.  Greg co-founded the advisory organization of Global Compliance Management and Response (GCMR) and the investment firm of Amritam Holdings, LLC.

Greg is an adjunct member of the faculty at Baylor University School of Law and has taught a case study on the Pride turnaround at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Representative Matters

M&A/IPO

  • Led public company through a merger with industry peer achieving a 21% premium over deal valuation at the top of the market cycle creating $16 billion bellwether company.
  • Recapitalized public client issuing $1.6 billion in new public debt on emergency basis.
  • Completed a tax-free spin-off and IPO of client’s offshore US assets.
  • Negotiated client’s sale of land-based assets in Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
  • Negotiated sale of client’s non-core assets, including the sale of a business in South America and in the North Sea.
  • Completed numerous business/asset acquisitions of private companies for public company clients.

Corporate Governance and Investigations

  • Oversaw five-year FCPA investigation of client in cooperation with the SEC and the DOJ, driving a significant cultural turnaround where the DOJ did not require the typical court-appointed monitor as part of a favorable resolution of the investigation.
  • Retained by public company Board to investigate and evaluate overall business organization and series of transactions approved by former Board and management and provide detailed overview of issues and recommendations for future of company.
  • Retained by public company Board to investigate certain commercial issues and advise Audit Committee of corruption risks.
  • Led full review of compliance program and enterprise risk management process for client and drafted and implemented significant changes and enhancements.
  • Conducted global enterprise risk and compliance and ethics training for multiple clients.

General Cross Boarder and Commercial Matters

  • Negotiated numerous multi-billion-dollar contracts in South America.
  • Negotiated numerous multi-billion-dollar contracts in Mexico and Central America.
  • Negotiated numerous commercial contracts in North, West, and Central Africa.
  • Negotiated numerous commercial contracts in the Middle East.

Private Equity Matters

  • Sold client’s entire asset package in Latin America in the largest PE deal of its kind in Latin America at the time.
  • Negotiated client’s private equity backed finance transaction and completed entire business formation structure and documentation.
  • Completed private equity backed formation of international investment platform.

Infrastructure/EPC

  • Negotiated construction of five ultra-deepwater drillships at Samsung in Korea with a value in the billions of dollars.
  • Wound down and exited client’s historic EPC business.

Business Formation/ Operation/Disposition/Joint Ventures

  • Extensive experience advising on matters in corporate Operations, Marketing, Finance, Global Supply Chain, Asset Management, Human Resources, QHSE, Performance, IT, Governance, Compliance, and Risk Management functions.
  • Oversaw purchase of joint venture interest from client’s partner in Angola.
  • Advised client through process to achieve investment grade credit rating with intense focus on credit quality completing strategic business improvements, asset sales, and debt management.
  • Documented long-term strategic relationships with BP, Petrobras, and Total for client’s business globally.
  • Established angel investment firm.
  • Established governance and compliance advisory firm.

Corporate Turnaround Matters

  • Significant role completing turnaround of public company with operations in over 30 countries increasing equity value over 200% in five years.
  • Led public company turnaround of legal, compliance, governance, and ethics functions to build an entirely new global system and culture.