Eduardo Gallardo is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  Mr. Gallardo is Co-Chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group and is Chair of the Shareholder Activism Defense Group.  He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder activism defense and corporate governance matters.

Mr. Gallardo has extensive experience representing public and private buyers and sellers in connection with mergers, acquisitions and takeovers, both negotiated and contested.  He has also represented public and private companies in connection with proxy contests, leveraged buyouts, spinoffs, divestitures, restructurings, recapitalizations, joint ventures and other complex corporate transactions.  Mr. Gallardo has substantial experience in the technology, financial services, telecommunications, energy, real estate, healthcare and life sciences industries.

Mr. Gallardo is tier-ranked by Chambers USA in Corporate/M&A: Takeover Defense, with clients noting he is “very responsive, timely and an effective negotiator.”  Mr. Gallardo has been named a “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer.  The National Law Journal has also named him among its Mergers & Acquisitions and Antitrust Trailblazers – people “who have moved the needle in mergers and acquisitions and antitrust law.”  He is also recognized as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America and as a leading M&A attorney by The International Financial Law Review.

Mr. Gallardo is a member of the Board of Visitors of Columbia Law School, a member of the Board of Advisors of the Institute for Law & Economics of the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the Advisory Board of Columbia Law School’s Blog on Corporations and the Capital Markets, a member of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, and was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Governance Counsel.  In 2018 Mr. Gallardo was honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Columbia Law School Latin American Law Student Association “in recognition of his outstanding legal achievements and invaluable service to the Latino community.”

Mr. Gallardo received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1999, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.  He received a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in 1996.  Mr. Gallardo is admitted to practice in the State of New York.

Representative transactions

• AT&T Services, Inc.:  Represented AT&T in the proposed $1.4 billion sale of Warner Bros. Games’ Playdemic, Ltd., the mobile games studio responsible for Golf Clash, to Electronic Arts.
• Fifth Wall Acquisition Corp.:  Represented Fifth Wall Acquisition Corp. I, a special purpose acquisition company, in its proposed $2.2 billion acquisition of SmartRent. Inc.
• PAR Technology:  Represented PAR Technology, a leading global provider of restaurant software, in its $500 million acquisition of Punchh Inc.
• Amherst Residential:  Represented Amherst Residential in its proposed $2.3 billion acquisition of Front Yard Residential Corporation, a publicly-traded REIT.
• Barnes & Noble Education:  Represented Barnes & Noble Education in its successful defense against an unsolicited takeover bid launched by Bay Capital Finance.
• GulfMark Offshore:  Represented GulfMark Offshore in its $1.2 billion business combination with Tidewater.
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise:  Represented Hewlett Packard Enterprise in connection with its spin-off and merger of its Enterprise Services Business with CSC by means of a Reverse Morris Trust transaction.
• MiraMed Global Services:  Represented MiraMed in its acquisition of Medac, Inc., a leading provider of anesthesia revenue cycle management.
• California Water Service Group:  Represented California Water in its $2 billion unsolicited interloper bid for SJW Group.
• Marriott International:  Represented Marriott in its $12 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
• DepoMed, Inc.:  Represented DepoMed, Inc. in connection with its successful defense against a $3.3 billion unsolicited takeover offer from Horizon Pharma, including related proxy contest and litigation.
• MGM Growth Properties:  Represented MGM Growth Properties in its $5.5 billion bid for Vici Properties.
• Towers Watson:  Represented of Towers Watson in connection with its $18 billion merger of equals with Willis Group.
• Hewlett-Packard Company:  Represented Hewlett-Packard in its approximately $3.0 billion acquisition of Aruba Networks, Inc.
• The Related Companies:  Represented The Related Companies in its investment in CommonWealth REIT, including successful consent solicitation to remove and replace the entire Board of Trustees of CommonWealth, and related litigation.
• Transatlantic Holdings:  Represented Transatlantic Holdings, a reinsurance company, in its $3.4 billion merger with Alleghany Corporation, and successful defense against a hostile exchange offer commenced by Validus Holdings.
• Zayo Group:  Represented Zayo Group, in its $2.2 billion acquisition of AboveNet, Inc.
• Fushi Copperweld:  Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Fushi Copperweld, a China-based US publicly traded company, in connection with its completed going-private transaction.
• Baldor Electric Company:  Represented Baldor Electric Company in its $4.2 billion sale to ABB Ltd via a tender offer.
• The Williams Companies, Inc.:  Represented The Williams Companies, Inc. in its $5.9 billion acquisition of the 50% general partner interest in Access Midstream Partners from Global Infrastructure Partners.
• CommScope, Inc.:  Represented CommScope in its sale to The Carlyle Group for $3.9 billion.
• Heineken: Represented Heineken in its $7.6 billion acquisition of the beer operations of FEMSA.
• Emulex Corporation:  Represented Emulex Corporation in its successful defense against an attempted hostile takeover by Broadcom Corporation.
• iBasis, Inc:  Represented the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of iBasis, Inc., in connection with an unsolicited tender offer from Koninklijke KPN.N.V., including related takeover defense and litigation.
• Infocrossing, Inc.:  Represented Infocrossing in its $609 million sale to Wipro Limited via a tender offer.
• SES Global:  Represented SES Global in its $760 million acquisition of New Skies Satellites Holdings Ltd.
• SES Global:  Represented SES Global in its tax-free disposition to GE of various satellite businesses for $1.3 billion.
• SunTrust Banks, Inc.:  Represented SunTrust Banks in its $14.7 billion unsolicited bid for Wachovia Corporation.