Kevin P. Kennedy is a Partner in the Firm’s Corporate Department, specializing in securities and corporate governance matters. Kevin has served as primary outside counsel for a number of public and private companies and has represented issuers and underwriters in a variety of securities transactions, with a particular focus on initial public offerings. He also has extensive experience working with companies in various industries on mergers and acquisitions.
Kevin was recognized by Law360 as a 2018 Technology MVP for his work in several of the year’s highest-profile initial public offerings, including Dropbox and Sonos’ IPOs. He has also been named one of California’s Top 100 Leading Lawyers by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal and the Lawyer of the Week by the Financial Times of London. In addition, he was named a “Trusted Adviser” by The Recorder.
Possessing what Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business described as “great depth of experience in all facets of capital markets,” Kevin is one of only seven attorneys in all of California ranked in Chambers’ highest category for Capital Markets work. He has also been cited as a leading lawyer in a number of practice area directories including, The Best Lawyers in America and Who’s Who Legal: California.
Kevin is a lead co-author of the book IPOs: Considerations for Business Owners and Executives Taking their Company Public, recently published by RR Donnelley. In addition, he has spoken on securities matters at the Annual Institute on Securities Laws, sponsored by the Practicing Law Institute, and has published numerous articles on securities, corporate governance matters and initial public offerings.
Representative examples of Kevin’s capital markets experience include the following:
- Underwriters in Sonos’ $208 million initial public offering
- Airbnb in its most recent preferred stock offering, which raised over $1 billion in proceeds
- ZS Pharma in its $2.7 billion acquisition by AstraZeneca
- Underwriters in Apple’s $17 billion bond offering—the largest corporate debt offering in history at the time—and all subsequent registered public offerings by Apple, for a total of over $107 billion in proceeds
- Underwriters in connection with the $260 million initial public offering of Tesla Motors, Inc.—the first initial public offering by a U.S. auto manufacturer since 1956—and on all ten subsequent public offerings, which have raised over $10 billion in total proceeds
- Underwriters in connection with the $230 million initial public offering of Vince Holding Corp.
- Apple in connection with its $661 million convertible notes offering–the largest convertible debt offering ever undertaken by a company at that time
- Merrill Lynch & Co. as underwriter in the initial public offering of Nu Skin Enterprises—the first simultaneous U.S./Japanese initial public offering in history
Prior to joining Simpson Thacher in 2000, Kevin was a Partner in the Menlo Park office of Shearman & Sterling. He holds degrees from Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy and was a Board Member of the Boalt Hall Alumni Association for a number of years.
Education:
- University of California Berkeley School of Law, 1991 J.D.
- University of California at Davis, 1988 B.A.
Associations:
- California State Bar Association
- Board Member, Boalt Hall Alumni Association
Admissions : California 1992
Cost
Rate : $$$
