Mr Michael Belsley > Kirkland & Ellis LLP > Chicago, United States > Lawyer Profile
Kirkland & Ellis LLP Offices
300 NORTH LASALLE
CHICAGO, IL 60654
ILLINOIS
United States
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Mr Michael Belsley
Position
Michael Belsley’s practice involves structuring, negotiating and documenting complex business transactions, including strategic and leveraged acquisitions, recapitalizations and divestitures, formation and governance of private equity funds (including primary investments in and secondary market sales of private equity fund interests), venture capital investments (start-up and later-stage), mezzanine debt financings, equity financings and corporate governance matters.
Michael regularly represents buyers and sellers, as well as market intermediaries, in their secondary market activities. His secondary market experience includes traditional portfolio sales, structured secondaries, synthetic secondaries (i.e., buy-ins and bundled secondary directs, as well as total return swaps), captive fund spin-outs, stapled secondary offerings, fund recapitalizations and restructurings, follow-on funding secondaries and orphaned asset sales in a variety of asset classes, including the venture capital, leveraged buy-out, special situations and real estate sectors. Michael is a frequent lecturer, speaker, and panel moderator on private equity secondaries.
Michael also frequently represents both private equity fund sponsors (i.e., general partners) and investors in private equity fund formations, fund-level restructurings and governance matters.
Representative buy-side clients include Adams Street Partners, Capital Dynamics, Coller Capital, Harbourvest, Landmark Partners, LGT, Liquid Realty Partners, Mesirow, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust Corporation, Pantheon Ventures, Partners Group, Paul Capital Partners, and Virginia Retirement System.
Representative sell-side clients include American Capital, Bank of America, confidential Canadian public pension plan, Citigroup, Colgate University, Danske Private Equity, Ewing Kauffman Foundation, confidential Fortune 100 pension plan, confidential Japanese financial institution, confidential Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, confidential Pacific-rim sovereign wealth fund, a leading property and casualty insurance company and Virginia Retirement System.
Michael counsels clients on transactions throughout the world, including the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific-rim.
Education
Northwestern University School of Law, J.D., 1996; Northwestern University, B.A., 1992.
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Advertising and marketing: litigation
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- International Trade > CFIUS
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Government > Government relations
- Intellectual property > Copyright
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Energy > Energy litigation: oil and gas
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Environment > Environment: transactional
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Tax > International tax
- Dispute resolution > M&A litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Private equity buyouts: large deals ($500m+)
- Investment fund formation and management > Private equity funds (including venture capital)
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Shareholder activism
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- Intellectual property > Trade secrets (litigation and non-contentious matters)
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: litigation
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Energy > Energy regulation: electric power
- Environment > Environment: litigation
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: litigation
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Intellectual property > Patents: licensing
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (International Trade Commission)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: automotive/transport
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: consumer products (including tobacco)
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: pharmaceuticals and medical devices
- Dispute resolution > Product liability, mass tort and class action - defense: toxic tort
- Finance > Project finance
- Real estate > Real estate investment trusts (REITs)
- Government > State attorneys general
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Tax > US taxes: contentious
- Dispute resolution > E-discovery
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Insurance > Insurance: non-contentious
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Intellectual property > Trademarks: non-contentious (including prosecution, portfolio management and licensing)
- Energy > Energy regulation: oil and gas
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- Media, technology and telecoms > Media and entertainment: transactional
- Real estate > Construction (including construction litigation)
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Investment fund formation and management > Mutual/registered/exchange-traded funds