It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of our friend and retired partner George Vandeman, who passed away on March 16 at the age of 83. Mr. Vandeman was a creative visionary and a remarkable leader. He will be dearly missed.
George A. Vandeman retired from Partnership on June 30, 1995, and was a well known practitioner in the corporate field of mergers and acquisitions. He is a former chair of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group.
In the mergers and acquisitions field, Mr. Vandeman represented bidders, targets and financial advisors in hostile and friendly corporate takeovers and proxy fights. He has represented:
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Marvin Davis in all of his M&A matters, including his bids for Northwest Airlines and United Airlines
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Ted Turner in his bid for CBS and his acquisition of MGM/UA and subsequent sale of certain MGM assets
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Certain directors of Hollywood Park Race Track (Merv Griffin, John Forsythe, Aaron Spelling, Alan Paulson and Stan Seiden) in connection with a recent proxy fight
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Hard Rock Cafe in its attempt to acquire London-based Hard Rock International
- Michael Jackson in his consideration of taking his music publishing company public
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The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Imagine Films Entertainment in connection with the departure of director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer
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The Family Channel in its bid to acquire The Nostalgia Network
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Nestle USA in several major acquisitions and dispositions
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Circus Circus Enterprises, Inc. in M&A matters
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A public global biotechnology company in M&A matters and Comsat Corporation in certain entertainment industry matters
Mr. Vandeman has served on the California State Bar Ad Hoc Committee on Takeovers and Corporate Governance and is a member of the USC Law School Board of Councilors and the Council for the United States and Italy. He has also been active in the corporate arena as a principal. He was responsible for the acquisition of Los Angeles television station KTLA, Channel 5 in 1983 by Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts and the subsequent sale of that station in 1985 to The Tribune Company. He was also a founder of Cinema Group, an independent motion picture production company, and VideoNet, the first live-via-satellite teleconferencing company.
Mr. Vandeman was the founding shareholder of KHNR, a 24-hour a day all news station, featuring CNN Headline News Radio, was on 650 AM in Honolulu, Hawaii. He also was a founding stockholder of Privilege Players Group, the owner of Players Club International and Privilege Card International.