Kevin Cooper

Kevin focuses on M&A and other complex corporate transactions, representing public and private companies in their most important strategic matters. He also has significant experience advising clients on shareholder activism, corporate governance and takeover defense. He advises clients from a range of industries, including tech, life sciences, consumer, sports and entertainment, fintech, and private equity. Chambers USA has ranked Kevin in Corporate/M&A in New York since 2024.

Kevin’s recent M&A matters include the following engagements:

Life sciences

• Longboard Pharmaceuticals in its $2.6 billion sale to Lundbeck
• Arena Pharmaceuticals in its $6.7 billion sale to Pfizer
• Intersect ENT in its $1.1 billion sale to Medtronic
• Flexion in its $450 million sale to Pacira Biosciences
• Perceptive in its acquisition of Vapotherm
• Turnstone Biologics in its acquisition of Myst Therapeutics
• Landos Biopharma in its $212.5 million sale to AbbVie
• Liminal Biosciences in its sale to Structured Alpha
• Celularity in its special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with GX Acquisition for $1.7 billion to become a publicly listed company
• Allergan in its $83 billion acquisition by AbbVie*
• Auris Health in its $5.75 billion sale to Johnson & Johnson*
• Cantel Medical in its $775 million acquisition of Hu-Friedy*
• ERYTECH Pharma in its sale of its Princeton, New Jersey, manufacturing facility and related long-term supply agreement
• MacroGenics in its sale of global rights to MARGENZA to TerSera
• Ensoma in its acquisition of Twelve Bio
• Marker Therapeutics in its sale of cell manufacturing assets to CellReady

Technology

• Everbridge in its $1.8 billion sale to Thoma Bravo
• Truebill in its $1.3 billion sale to Rocket Companies
• PlayAGS in its $1.1 billion sale to Brightstar Capital
• Clarabridge in its $1.1 billion sale to Qualtrics
• Cedar Cares in its $425 million acquisition of OODA Health
• DigitalOcean in its $350 million acquisition of Cloudways and its $111 million acquisition of Paperspace
• UiPath in its acquisitions of Cloud Elements and Re:infer
• Frame AI in its sale to Hubspot
• Nuvolo in its sale to Trane Technologies
• HiredScore in its sale to Workday
• Timber Technologies in its sale to Datadog
• Backtrace in its sale to Sauce Labs
• 4C Insights in its sale to Mediaocean, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company
• Heliogen in its successful defense against an unsolicited takeover offer from Continuum Renewables
• Littelfuse in its $350 million acquisition of the circuit connectivity business of TE Connectivity*
• Convergys in its $449 million cash sale of its information management business to NetCracker Technology, a subsidiary of NEC*
• DHC Acquisition in its $250 million SPAC merger with Brand Engagement Network

Consumer and entertainment

• PetIQ in its $1.5 billion sale to Bansk Group
• Jackpocket in its $750 million sale to DraftKings
• Nutrafol in its sale to Unilever
• TCGplayer in its up to $295 million sale to eBay
• Gopuff in its $350 million acquisition of BevMo and its acquisition of rideOS
• JW Player in its merger with Connatix
• Poppin in its $110 million sale to Kimball International
• Function of Beauty in its $150 million minority investment from L Catterton
• Datalogue in its sale to Nike
• Altria in its $12.8 billion minority investment in JUUL, its $2.8 billion controlling investment in Cronos Group, its joint venture with The Burger Group to commercialize on! Nicotine pouch products, and its joint venture with Lexaria Nicotine*
• BowX Acquisition in its $9 billion SPAC merger with WeWork
• SeatGeek in its announced SPAC merger with RedBall Acquisition
• SuperValu in its $2.9 billion sale to United Natural Foods, related defense and settlement of a proxy contest with Blackwells Capital, and in its announced spinoff and $1.4 billion sale of its Save-A-Lot business to Onex*
• Craft Brew Alliance in its sale to its controlling stockholder, Anheuser-Busch*
• American Eagle in its joint venture with NSG Apparel to sell North Sails apparel in the US*
• Aston Villa Football Club in its sale to Recon Group*

Fintech and financial services

• VR Insurance in its sale of a controlling stake in the National Security Group to PhenixFIN
• IEX Group in its strategic investment from FTX US
• Capital One in its acquisition of BlueTarp Financial, its acquisition of Paribus, its sale of its self-directed brokerage business to E*Trade, and its sale of its investment management and trust business to Hancock Whitney*
• BB&T in its $66 billion merger of equals with SunTrust to form Truist Financial, its $2.5 billion acquisition of Susquehanna Bancshares, its $363 million acquisition of the Bank of Kentucky, and its $3.5 billion acquisition of Citibank’s Texas retail banking business*
• Capital One in its $9 billion acquisition of GE Capital’s healthcare finance business, its $5.2 billion acquisition of Cabela’s credit card business in connection with the merger of Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, and its $17 billion sale of its mortgage business to DLJ Mortgage Capital*
• PrivateBancorp in its $5 billion acquisition by CIBC*
• PNC in its $1.25 billion acquisition of ECN Capital’s US vendor finance business*
• Sandler O’Neill in its merger with Piper Jaffray to create Piper Sandler Companies*
• Sallie Mae in its sale of its Upromise Investments business to Ascensus, a JC Flowers portfolio company*

Private equity

• Perceptive Advisors in its definitive merger agreement with Vapotherm
• M33 Growth in the majority investment by True Wind Capital in W Energy
• Warburg Pincus and The Carlyle Group in their 2015 acquisition of DBRS from Colonial House Capital and their 2019 sale of DBRS to Morningstar*
• Warburg Pincus and Mariner Finance in the acquisition of Personal Finance Company from Minnesota Life*
• Patriot Financial Partners as lead investor in a consortium acquiring Radius Bancorp*
• Frost Brooks in its minority investment in BizEquity*

Energy and industrials

• Hexcel in its announced $16 billion merger of equals with Woodward*
• Joy Global in its $3.7 billion acquisition by Komatsu of Japan*
• Hardinge in its $245 million sale to Privet Fund in a take-private transaction*
• Berry Petroleum in its $4.9 billion sale to Linn Energy*
• Cooper Industries in its $11.8 billion combination with Eaton*
• ConocoPhillips in its $33 billion spinoff of Phillips 66*
• CVR Energy in connection with the acquisition of the company by Carl Icahn*

Shareholder activism

Kevin has advised numerous public company boards and management teams – including those of Milestone Pharmaceuticals, Everbridge, Athira Pharma, Katapult, Ziopharm, Heliogen, SuperValu* and CVR Energy* (among many other confidential engagements) – in connection with proxy contests, consent solicitations and other activist situations.

Financial adviser representations

Kevin also has represented financial advisers – including Centerview, Morgan Stanley and Lazard* – in connection with M&A transactions.

* Transaction handled prior to joining Cooley

Before joining Cooley, Kevin was a member of the corporate department focusing on M&A at a prominent New York City law firm.

In law school, Kevin received the Joshua Montgomery Sears, Jr. Prize for earning the highest grades among second-year students, and he was a founder and editor in chief of the Harvard Business Law Review. Before law school, Kevin received his MBA and a bachelor’s degree in finance.

In a former life, Kevin played NCAA Division I football for the Fresno State Bulldogs. He lives in New York City with his wife, Rosemary, and his daughter.