David C. Kruse

Recent representative M&A transactions include advising:

• Founder and investors on sale of 80% of Knix to Essity for US$320-million

• Simpson Oil on the sale of 25% of SOL Investments for 20-million common shares of Parkland Fuel, valued at approximately $700-million

• Schlesinger Group, a portfolio company of Gauge Capital, on its acquisition of Methodify and AskingCanadians

• Litera on its acquisition of Kira Systems and its industry-leading machine learning contract analysis technology

• MCAP on its acquisition of Paradigm Quest, creating Canada's largest non-bank lender with more than C$140-billion in mortgage assets under management

• Dell Technologies on its US$4-billion sale of Boomi to Francisco Partners and TPG Capital

• Ascential Group on its US$162-million acquisition of Perpetua Labs

• Allied Universal on Canadian aspects of its US$5.3-billion merger with G4S, creating the world's largest security firm

• Nasdaq on its US$2.75-billion acquisition of Verafin, Canada's largest software transaction since 2007

• Uptake on its acquisition of ShookIOT

• RTL Group (a listed international media company majority owned by Bertelsmann) on the disposition of its majority interest in BroadbandTV for C$159-million plus a promissory note as part of its IPO

• Dell Technologies on its US$2.075-billion sale of RSA Security to a consortium of investors including Symphony Technology Group, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board and AlpInvest Partners

• Charlesbank on its US$235-million purchase of News America Marketing from News Corp.

• EN Engineering, a portfolio company of Kohlberg & Company, on its acquisition of Kestrel Power Engineering

• GAT Airline Ground Support, a portfolio company of Atlantic Street Capital, on its acquisition of Strategic Aviation Services and Sky Café

• Global Infrastructure Partners in respect of the insolvency of Essar Steel Algoma under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act

• SOL Limited on its C$1.57-billion sale of 75% of SOL Investments Limited to Parkland Fuel

• A major automotive OEM in a global reorganization

• GMS Inc. on its C$800-million acquisition of WSB Titan from TorQuest Partners

• Frontier Capital on its acquisitions of cfactor Works, Igloo Inc. and Agreement Express

• PHI, Inc. on its C$233-million acquisition with Don Wall of HNZ Group Inc.

• A major automotive OEM in acquiring multiple automotive tech companies

• CI Financial on its C$780-million purchase of Sentry Investments and its purchase of Virtual Brokers

• Siemens on its US$200-million purchase of Epocal from Alere

• StructureTone, a portfolio company of Global Infrastructure Solutions, on its acquisition of Govan Brown

• KPS Capital on its US$425-million purchase of TaylorMade Golf from adidas

• Gauge Capital on its acquisition of eDynamic Learning

• The North West Company on its acquisition of North Star Air

• Robert Bosch on its acquisition of TrustPoint

• Summit Park on the formation of Arkive and purchase of assets from Iron Mountain

• A major automotive OEM in its disposition of a bus business

• Agrium on its C$36-billion merger of equals with Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan

• Suncor on its C$1.13-billion sale of its Petro-Canada lubricants division to HollyFrontier

• BCE on its C$675-million acquisition of the remaining interest in Q9 Networks

• McKeil Marine on its sale to TorQuest Partners

• Johnson Electric on its C$800-million purchase of Stackpole

• LafargeHolcim on its €6.5-billion divestiture of assets to CRH

• Holcim in connection with its C$50-billion merger with Lafarge

• Safeway on its C$5.8-billion sale of Canada Safeway to Sobeys

• BCE and Rogers joint venture on its C$1.1-billion acquisition of 75% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

• A major automotive OEM in its disposition of non-core brands

David has been recognized in the following publications:

• The Best Lawyers in Canada 2024 (Corporate Law)
  

• The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (2023: Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity, Corporate Mid-Market and Corporate; 2022: Repeatedly Recommended in Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity, Corporate Mid-Market and Corporate Commercial Law)

• The Legal 500 Canada 2023 (Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions)

• Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business 2023 (Corporate/Commercial)
  

• IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial and Corporate Law Firms – 2022–2023 (Mergers & Acquisitions)

David is actively involved in mentoring and served as Co-chair of the Blakes Legal Personnel Committee. He is also a legal innovator and sits on the Firm's Legal Innovation Counsel.

David is committed to participating in legal education. He often leads seminars and lectures on several facets of business law, including M&A, innovation, legal service delivery and the negotiation and drafting of complex transaction agreements.

• Contributor: Automotive - Canada
  Getting the Deal Through, Lexology, June 2021.

Admitted to the Ontario Bar – 2000
LLB, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University – 1998
BA, McGill University – 1995