What led you to a career in the deal-making industry?
My background in finance led me initially to focus on financing transactions for the first decade of my career and then over time I began to focus primarily on mergers and acquisitions. I love building long term relationships with clients and partnering with them on some of their most complex transactions to help them find creative solutions.
How does diversity add value in the deal-making process?
Different perspectives are critical to helping clients solve complex issues - being able to capture those perspectives to think creatively in crafting deal structures and in negotiations helps our deal teams to provide the best service to their clients.
The most memorable deal I worked on....
Riverstone Holdings in the $9.5 billion formation and subsequent take private of Talen Energy Corporation, one of the largest independent power producers in the U.S. with a portfolio of power plants totaling approximately 16,000 MW, and the subsequent $5.2 billion take-private of Talen two years later.
Advice for achieving success in the industry....
Be resilient, stay calm and remain positive to build a reputation as someone who looks for a workable solution versus someone who feeds into the challenges of the moment.
Profile:
Trina is a nationally recognized energy M&A and transactions lawyer, with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and finance transactions. She represents private equity firms, major energy and utility companies, and financial institutions, including firms such as Riverstone Holdings, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, AltaGas, Direct Energy, Itochu, Avenue Capital and Quantum, primarily in power, downstream, midstream, marketing and trading, and other energy-related transactions. Trina is a prior member of the firm’s Management Committee and currently serves as co-head of Vinson & Elkins’ Energy Industry group and chair of the firm’s Women’s Initiative.
Location: Vinson & Elkins LLP, Houston, Texas, United States.
Education: J.D., from University of Texas School of Law, B.B.A., in Finance from University of Texas at Austin.
