Gibson Dunn & Crutcher was founded in Los Angeles in 1890. It has since grown to 20 offices throughout four continents. In the United States, the firm has 10 offices in California, Texas, Colorado, New York and Washington DC. Its greatest presence is in California, where it has five offices throughout the state. 

Focusses / specialisms

The firm maintains a strong presence in California, where it is has top tier M&A practices in Southern California. Additionally, its Denver, DC, Dallas and Houston offices are standouts in their respective states in corporate practice areas.

The banking team acts on the borrower side of financing transactions such as multicurrency credit agreements, term credit facilities, ABLs and construction loan facilities. These transactions are part of larger acquisition finance, project finance, construction finance or refinancing matters. 

In financial services regulatory the team represents banks and financial institutions in regulatory advice regarding Federal Reserve policy compliance, derivatives and corporate governance matters. 

The firm also has a depth of experience in capital markets on all sides. In debt capital markets, the firm acts for issuers and underwriters in investment grade, high yield, convertible, fixed rate and floating rate bond issuances.

On the equity capital markets side the firm also represents issuers and underwriters in IPOs, common share offerings, convertible preferred stock offerings and at-the-market equity programs. The capital markets team also frequently advises clients in the banking and financial services industry about derivatives issuances, specifically swaps and futures. These transactions also usually have a regulatory component with which the regulatory financial services team will assist. 

The majority of the investment funds team is based in New York, where it assists private equity and asset management firms in fund formations. There is frequent crossover between the investment funds and private equity practices due to the clientele. The private equity practice is based in California, New York, Washington and Dallas. It advises private equity firms on both the buy and sell side in high value acquisitions and joint ventures, ranging from $100 million to $5 billion. The M&A practice deals with public and private strategic acquisitions and joint ventures on the buy and sell side. It has large pockets of partners in the practice in the New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, Palo Alto and Denver offices, who frequently involve each other in cross border matters.

The project development team is highly skilled in the infrastructure industry, where it represents sponsors and developers in project acquisitions, financing, bidding and construction. Additionally, the team has a lot of experience working on PPP projects. 

In restructuring and insolvency, the firm advises creditors and debtors in out of court financial restructurings, Chapter 11 and 15 proceedings.

Key clients

Key clients for the firm include Marriott International, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Fox, Wells Fargo Securities, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, US Chamber of Commerce, Capital One, Leonard Green & Partners, JP Morgan Asset Management, WndrCo, RedBird Capital Partners, The Williams Companies, PepsiCo, NTE Mobility Partners Segments 3, Denver Great Hall, AIG and Aetna.

Research period review: 30th edition (2019/2020)

Throughout the research period the banking team acted for borrowers in a credit facility and loan agreements. A large portion of the agreements went towards refinancing or acquisition financing.

In capital markets the team represented a combination of issuers and underwriters mostly on debt related transactions such as investment grade and high yield bond issuances. It did also work on a couple of IPOs as well as swap and futures regulatory matters.

The investment funds team represented private equity, banks and financial institutions in high value fund formations. Many of these funds were related to the real estate industry.

In M&A, the practice acted on both the buy and sell side for high value strategic acquisitions. It had a high number of transactions in the oil and gas and technology industries.

The private equity practice advised private equity firms in multimillion and billion-dollar acquisitions both on the buy and sell side.

The project development team continued to act for developers and sponsors in the infrastructure industry.

The restructuring and insolvency team represented mostly creditors in Chapter 11 proceedings. It did also represent a fair number of debtors and worked on out of court financial restructurings. 

Regarding lateral moves, the capital markets team in New York recruited partner Boris Dolgonos from Jones Day. In M&A, partner Charles “Chuck” Walker joined the Houston team from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. The Denver M&A team brought over partner Gerald Farano from Jones Day. Partner William Sorabella joined the New York M&A and private equity practices from Kirkland & Ellis. The California offices recruited M&A and private equity partners Chris Harding and Abtin Jalali from Kirkland & Ellis and partner David Lee from Latham & Watkins. Partner Ed Batts also joined Palo Alto’s M&A practice from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Around the same time, partner Russell Hansen retired. Former co-lead of Debevoise & Plimpton’s banking industry practice Matthew Biben joined the New York office to serve as the co-chair of the financial institutions practice. His practice focuses on regulatory financial services. Partner Edward Nelson left the investment funds practice to join Latham & Watkins. In restructuring and insolvency, Los Angeles partner Samuel Newman left to join Sidley Austin. In the New York office, restructuring and insolvency partners Scott Greenberg, Steven Domanowski and Michael Cohen were brought over from Jones Day, with Greenberg serving as the co-chair of the restructuring practice.

Deal highlights: 30th edition (2019/2020)

Fox Corporation $6.8 billion 3.666%, 4.03%, 4.709%, 5.476% and 5.576% bond issue

Green Equity Investors VIII

Marriott International $4 billion revolving credit refinancing 

Newark Liberty International Airport consolidated rent-a-car center and public parking facility

Parsons Corporation NYSE IPO

PG&E Chapter 11 restructuring

Platinum Equity $2.74 billion acquisition of Cision

VMWare $2.7 billion acquisition of PivotalSoftware

Targa Resources Partners dual tranche 6.5% and 6.875% high yield bond issue

Client feedback: 30th edition (2019/2020)

Investment funds

“Skilled in all areas of investment management.”

“They know the market and are very thoughtful and responsive.”