Kevin Rinker is the Co-Chair of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Group and a leader in the private equity and healthcare practices of the firm. Mr. Rinker has a broad-based transactional practice with extensive experience advising multinational corporations and private equity firms in structuring and negotiating mergers, acquisitions, investments, divestitures, licensing arrangements and other corporate transactions. He has handled matters across many industries, with experience in the business services, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrials, media and technology sectors, among others. Mr. Rinker has represented a number of leading corporate and private equity clients, including American Express, The Blackstone Group, Carlyle, Cerberus Capital Management, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Envision Healthcare, General Electric, Gogo, Hospital Corporation of America, Johnson & Johnson, Morgan Stanley Private Equity, Nestlé S.A., Shiseido and Providence Equity Partners.
Mr. Rinker is ranked as a leading lawyer for both M&A and private equity buyouts by Chambers USA (2023). He is also recommended for Corporate/M&A (International & Cross-Border) by Chambers Global (2024). He is valued by clients for his “commercially balanced and efficient approach” and described as “solutions-orientated,” “client-attentive” and a “go-to partner.” Clients say he is “a great business lawyer,” “an outstanding M&A adviser” and “a subject matter expert” who is “very good at looking around corners, and working out how to deal with them if you run into them.” He is also recommended for M&A, private equity buyouts and healthcare by The Legal 500 US (2023), where sources note that he is “very commercial, easy to work with, a great advocate for his client but a solutions-oriented person.” In previous editions of the guide, sources note that he “understands our business so well that he can act as both a legal and commercial partner to help us get to the best deals” and he is described as “very accessible and commercial,” “a strong negotiator,” “extremely client oriented” and “calm under fire.” Clients say he has the “experience base, familiarity with market precedents and ability to help create unique structures to position clients to make the best deals they can.” Mr. Rinker is also ranked as a leading lawyer by IFLR1000 (2022).
Mr. Rinker was twice named a “Law360 MVP” for his exceptional work in private equity. In addition, Mr. Rinker led the firm’s representation of Gogo Inc. in the $400 million sale of its Commercial Aviation business to Intelsat, which was named “Most Innovative Deal of the Year (Middle Market)” at the 2021 Deal Awards, sponsored by The Deal.
Mr. Rinker is a frequent author and speaker on topics relating to mergers & acquisitions. He is a contributing author of the Debevoise & Plimpton Private Equity Report and is the co-editor of, and contributor to, the Health Care Mergers and Acquisitions Answer Book (Practising Law Institute, 2020), an extensive reference guide addressing structuring, regulatory, due diligence and documentation issues in healthcare M&A and licensing transactions.
Mr. Rinker joined Debevoise in 2000 and became a partner in 2007. He received his B.A. in 1994 from Tufts University and his J.D. in 1999 from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was on the editorial board of The Tax Lawyer and served as a Teaching Fellow in the LL.M. program. Mr. Rinker is a member of the Board of Directors of Partnership with Children, a nonprofit organization that assists at-risk youths in the New York City area.