Kevin Rusli, New York

About Kevin

Kevin practises Canadian cross-border corporate and securities law and advises clients on market-leading transactions and regulatory developments. He has extensive experience of business issues and market practices across industries. Drawing on this knowledge, Kevin regularly acts as trusted legal adviser to numerous Canadian and U.S. investment dealers, private equity sponsors, asset managers, banks, credit unions, pension plans and corporations. He advises them on cross-border corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions matters, including leveraged buyouts, equity investments, co-investments, secondaries, restructurings and fund formation.

Kevin is regarded as a leading lawyer on the regulation, fund formation and registration of investment fund managers, portfolio advisers and dealers. He also has considerable experience in structuring fund platforms in Canada for both domestic and international sponsors.

Prior to assuming his role as Office Managing Partner of the New York office, Kevin was the Practice Group Leader of the Capital Markets group in Toronto.

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Select Experience

Select significant transactions include acting as counsel to:

Mergers & Acquisitions/Private Equity

Sheridan Capital Partners on the cross-border acquisition and ultimate sale of Canadian Orthodontic Partners, including 69 locations nationally serving more than 30,000 active patients, to Pamlico Capital
Bartek Ingredients Inc. on its sale to Torquest Partners
Questrade Wealth Management Inc. on the sale of its assets to WisdomTree Canada
CI Financial Corp. on its acquisition of Sentry Investments Inc. for C$780-million in cash and common shares of CI Financial Corp.
IMCD Group, a Netherlands-based public company, in connection with its cross-border acquisition of L.V. Lomas, a private Canadian and US specialty and ingredients distributor
Borealis Infrastructure and LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services in connection with LifeLabs' acquisition of CML Healthcare Inc., a transaction valued at C$1.22-billion
KSL Capital in connection with the sale of its 24% interest in Whistler-Blackcomb Holdings to Vail Resorts as part of Vail Resorts' C$1.4-billion acquisition of Whistler-Blackcomb Holdings
Gilead Sciences, Inc. in connection with its US$500-million cross-border acquisition of YM BioSciences Inc.
H&R REIT and H&R Finance Trust in connection with its friendly C$2.75-billion acquisition of Primaris REIT by way of a court approved plan of arrangement and concurrent C$1.28-billion sale of a portfolio of Primaris retail properties to the Kingsett group of funds
Bluespire Marketing, an affiliate of High Road Capital Partners, in connection with its cross-border acquisition of Ariad Communications
Nexen Inc. on its C$15.1-billion cross-border acquisition by CNOOC Limited
BHP on its US$40-billion cross-border offer to acquire Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan

Investment Products & Asset Management

Advising several Canadian and US fund sponsors and asset managers, including Goldman Sachs Asset Management, L.P., J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank, Toronto Dominion Bank, Desjardins, CI Financial, AGF Management Ltd., PIMCO Canada Corp., Horizons ETF Management (Canada) Inc., Evolve Funds Group Inc., Tangerine Investment Management Inc., Harvest Portfolios Group Inc., Van Eck Associates Corporation, and State Street Global Advisors
Dynamic Funds, a division of Scotiabank, on the acquisition of exchange traded fund assets under management from BlackRock Canada
Jarislowsky Fraser Limited, one of Canda’s leading institutional and private wealth investment managers, in entering into a strategic relationship with HarbourVest Partners, an independent, global private markets investment specialist

Fairness

Advising numerous investment banks, including Credit Suisse, Jefferies and Moelis, in connection with their roles as financial advisors to acquirors and targets in M&A transactions

Awards & Recognition

Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2024 (Foreign Expert: USA – Corporate/M&A)
Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2024 (Expert Based Abroad: Canada – Corporate/M&A)
Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business – 2016–2023 (Investment Funds)
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2020 (Corporate Finance & Securities)
Lexpert Rising Stars 2019: Leading Lawyers under 40
Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyers – Independently Rated Lawyers – 2017, 2020 (As nominated by senior in-house counsel)

Professional Activities

Kevin is a member of the International Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Asian American Bar Association of New York, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Canadian Association of New York, Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and the Association for Corporate Growth. He has been selected to be a member of the Ontario Securities Commission's Investment Funds Technical Advisory Committee for the 2023–2025 term.

Kevin serves as co-head of the EastAsian@Blakes affinity group. He is a board member of the Canadian Association of New York and Magicana, a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to the advancement of magic as a performing art supported by the Slaight Family Foundation.