Texas Pacific Land Corporation, one of the state’s largest private landowners, is asking shareholders to make the Lone Star State its official legal home by reincorporating from Delaware.
The move would add the company to the list of hundreds that have already migrated to Texas in recent years.
Texas Pacific Land Corporation (TPL), founded out of the Texas Pacific Land Trust in 1888, describes itself as “providing value through land and resource management and water solutions.” The company is one of the largest private landowners in Texas, with approximately 894,000 acres across 23 counties.
In a letter to shareholders sent on Friday, TPL’s board of directors explained that Delaware was “a common legal home for public corporations” at least when the company reorganized under the laws of the state in 2021. However, now the company is asking shareholders to approve “a proposal to convert TPL from a corporation organized under the laws of Delaware to a corporation organized under the laws of Texas.”
The board notes the company’s deep connections to Texas, as well as the state’s “business-friendly” nature, as reasons for the proposal.
“Our headquarters, management team, employees, business operations, majority of the Board of Directors and virtually all of our land holdings are in Texas,” the board wrote, citing also the company’s founding in the state. “Operationally and practically, Texas is TPL’s home.”
The board also notes that Texas is one of the most attractive states from a business standpoint, due in part to the “modern, efficient business court system and developed legal framework that emphasizes clarity and common-sense governance.”
TPL’s land is primarily located in the Permian Basin, an area of Texas that has been steeped in controversy recently due to significant disagreements over proposed energy projects. Late last year, TPL announced plans “to develop and enable large-scale data center campuses and supporting infrastructure across TPL land.”
The proposal comes as several high-profile companies have either relocated their headquarters or reincorporated in Texas, with Chevron, Tesla, and Charles Schwab among some of the most notable.
