George Sampas is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s New York office. He is the co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice and Head of Cross-Border M&A. George’s practice focuses on cross-border transactions, unsolicited U.S. and non-U.S. acquisitions and private equity transactions with a specific emphasis in the aviation, aerospace and defense and energy and minerals sectors.
George is regularly recognized as a leading advisor having been previously named by Global Counsel as one of its “Highly Recommended M&A Practitioners” and is regularly ranked in legal publications such as New York Super Lawyers, The Legal 500 United States, Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Mergers and Acquisitions Lawyers and Who's Who Legal.
George represents leading global corporations on their largest, most complex and transformative deals including representations of Alcan, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Aventis, BBA Aviation, BCE, Columbia Pipeline Group, Enbridge, Inco, KPMG, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and Vodafone Group as well as private equity firms and investment advisors.
Historic transactions include representing Vodafone on the largest M&A transaction in history, its acquisition of Mannesmann, Elf in its Pac-Man defense and merger with Total, Aventis in its use of a Plavix poison pill warrant to secure better terms from Sanofi, Alcan in its use of new French regulations to allow an unsolicited acquisition of Pechiney and in selling Alcan to Rio Tinto, InBev in its unsolicited acquisition of Anheuser-Busch and subsequently AB InBev in its acquisition of Modelo, Inco in many transactions including its combination agreement with Phelps Dodge and Falconbridge and its sale to Vale.
Recent representations include*:
- Advising Enbridge on several transactions including its acquisitions of The East Ohio Gas Company, Questar Gas Company and its related Wexpro companies, and the pending acquisition of Public Service Company of North Carolina for a total of $14 billion; its $43 billion acquisition of Spectra Energy; and its acquisitions of its sponsored vehicles, including Spectra Energy Partners, Enbridge Income Fund, Enbridge Energy Partners and Enbridge Energy Management, totaling more than $18 billion.
- Advising DS Smith in its $9.9 billion pending combination with International Paper to create a global leader in sustainable packing solutions.
- Advising Alumina Limited, an Australian company that invests in bauxite mines and alumina refineries, on its pending $2.2 billion sale to Alcoa.
- Advising C&S Wholesale Grocers, a wholesale grocery supply and supply chain solutions, on several transactions including its $2.9 billion purchase of grocery stores and other assets from The Kroger Company and Albertsons Companies.
- Advising Symbotic, a leading provider of artificial intelligence-powered automation technology for the supply chain, on several transactions including its and SoftBank’s establishment of GreenBox Systems and its approximately $7.5 billion new customer contract with GreenBox; its $5.5 billion merger with SVF Investment Corp. 3 , a SPAC sponsored by an affiliate of Softbank Investment Advisers, and arrangement with Walmart to reimagine Walmart’s regional distribution network through Symbotic’s high tech systems.
- Advising Morgan Stanley as financial advisor to Iberdrola in its $2.6 billion acquisition of AvanGrid
*Includes representations prior to George’s association with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Before joining Gibson Dunn, George was a partner at a large international law firm. He received his law degree from The University of Chicago Law School and his Bachelor of Arts from Brown University. George is admitted to practice in the state of New York.
Capabilities
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Energy and Infrastructure
- Oil and Gas
- Power and Renewables
- Transportation and Space
Credentials
Education:
- University of Chicago - 1991 Juris Doctor
- Brown University - 1985 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- New York Bar