Michael J. Kessler

Representations include:

• Apollo Residential Mortgage, a residential mortgage REIT on its $220 million follow-on public offering of common stock.
• Broadstone Net Lease Inc.’s special committee in BNL’s internalization of its management involving the approximately $375 million acquisition of its external manager, Broadstone Real Estate LLC.
• Citibank on a $900 million common stock at-the-market (ATM) program (with forward confirm component) by Essex Property Trust.
• Colony American Homes on the reorganization of its business in parallel with its $7.7 billion merger into Starwood Waypoint, one of the largest publicly traded single-family rental-home owners.
• Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, a finance company that provides funding for clean-energy infrastructure projects, on its reorganization and concurrent $170 million NYSE IPO.
• National Storage Affiliates Trust, a self-storage real estate firm, on its formation transaction and $260 million IPO on the NYSE.
• Piper Sandler & Co. as underwriter or placement agent on bond offerings totaling in excess of $1 billion across an array of industries.
• Preferred Apartment Communities Inc.’s special committee on the company’s internalization of management and approximately $170 million acquisition of its external advisor.
• Ready Capital Corporation, a New York-based, multi-strategy real estate finance company on multiple public and private M&A deals aggregating in excess of $2 billion, including its nearly $1 billion acquisition of a former SPAC, and its acquisition of a leading fintech platform.
• Riverbend Lending, a U.S.-based residential and commercial lender in its sale to Redwood Trust, a publicly traded financial services company.

Michael Kessler has one of the market’s strongest securities, M&A, and financing practices. Michael is committed to his clients’ growth initiatives, having closed approximately $40 billion in capital raising and M&A transactions across all economic cycles. He is well known for successful exits and addressing liquidity issues. He has transformed finite life vehicles with fixed termination and liquidity deadlines into public company, perpetual life, and permanent capital formats.

He advises leading companies, investment banks, private equity sponsors, and fund managers across an array of industries.  He is best known for expertise in the real estate, specialty finance, REIT, banking, insurance, fintech, and energy sectors. He has one of the U.S.’s leading real estate finance practices, expanding the REIT sector into new asset classes.

The strengths of Michael’s practice include public and private M&A, including private equity transactions, advising board special committees on unsolicited hostile acquisitions, conflicting interest matters, and related party transactions; debt and equity capital markets transactions across public and private markets, including, IPOs, follow on capital raises, preferred stock offerings, and convertible, high-yield, and investment-grade bonds; financing, including credit facilities, term loans and bank, mezzanine, and high-yield debt; fund formation and capital raising, including finite life and evergreen permanent capital vehicles; and corporate governance and SEC disclosure, including shareholder activism, executive compensation, and fiduciary duties.

Chambers USA recognizes Michael in the REITs category.

Bar Admissions

• New York

Education

• Georgetown University (J.D., 2005)
• University of Florida (B.S., 2002)

Memberships