Peter W. Wardle is Co-Partner in Charge of the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  He is a member of the firm’s Corporate Transactions Department and Co-Chair of its Capital Markets Practice Group.

Mr. Wardle’s practice includes representation of issuers and underwriters in equity and debt offerings, including IPOs and secondary public offerings, and representation of both public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions, including private equity, cross border, leveraged buy-out, distressed and going private transactions.  He also advises clients on a wide variety of general corporate and securities law matters, including corporate governance issues.

Representative matters include:

• Represented CalAmp Corp. in:
  • $172.5 million convertible notes offering;
  • $135 million acquisition of LoJack Corporation; and
  • acquisitions of Wireless Matrix USA, Inc., Radio Satellite Integrators, Inc. and Dataradio, Inc.
• Represented AECOM in:
  • $6 billion acquisition of URS Corporation, creating the largest public company in Southern California;
  • $1.6 billion bond offering as part of the URS Corporation acquisition financing;
  • acquisitions of Hunt Construction Company and Tishman Construction Company; and
  • one of the largest IPOs in the country in 2007 —the second largest in California — valued at $808 million.
• Represented Eros International Plc, a Bollywood film company, in its $55 million IPO and follow-on offering.
• Represented Dole Food Company, Inc. in:
  • 2013 going private transaction;
  • sale of certain businesses to ITOCHU Corporation for $1.685 billion; and
  • the largest California IPO in 2009, valued at $446 million.
• Represented Aurora Capital Group in its $484 million acquisition of NuCO₂, which included the first full company securitization in connection with an acquisition, and the proposed IPO of NuCO₂.
• Represented the Farmers Insurance Exchanges in their $1.9 billion acquisition with Farmers Insurance Group, Inc. of an international insurer’s personal auto group.
• Represented the Chandler Trusts in their highly public shareholder activist efforts as the largest holder of Tribune Company, which concluded with the sale of over $1.6 billion of Tribune shares by the trusts.
• Handled significant capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and other transactions for Aurora Capital Group, the Argyros Family Trust, Vivendi, Lazard Freres & Co., Ticketmaster, IAC/InterActiveCorp., InterMedia Partners, Michael Gaughan, Stewart Title Company, Worldwide Restaurant Concepts, ValueClick, BCBG Max Azria Group, K2, Bassam Alghanim, Allied Security, Gryphon Investors, CSK Auto, Casden Properties and Akzo Nobel.

Mr. Wardle earned his J.D. in 1997 from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as Business Manager of the UCLA Law Review and Articles Editor of the UCLA Entertainment Law Review.  He received an A.B. degree cum laude in 1992 from Harvard University.  Mr. Wardle is a member of the Board of Directors and Co-Chair of the Governance Committee for The Colburn School.  He is a member of the firm’s Compensation Committee, National Pro Bono Committee and chair of the Community Affairs Committee, and serves as one of the Pro Bono Partners for the Los Angeles area offices.