Michael Hong has extensive experience advising on high-yield debt offerings and complex private equity financing transactions, as well as liability management and restructuring transactions such as tender offers, exchange offers and consent solicitations, with market-leading experience across numerous industries, including energy, automotive and real estate investment trusts (REITs), among others.
Hong has led more than 75 high-yield debt offerings since 2021 — with aggregate proceeds of over $60 billion — including for Venture Global LNG in 2023, which was the second-largest inaugural high-yield notes offering in history. Mr. Hong also has substantial experience in the energy sector, leading numerous debt and equity transactions for energy companies, including NextEra Energy, Devon Energy, D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, Ohmium International, Hunt Oil, First Solar, Cheniere Energy, TerraForm, AES Corporation, Rentech Energy Partners, FTC Solar, Forestar Group and Shelf Drilling. Hong frequently works with REITs on various capital markets transactions and general corporate advice.
Hong regularly represents financial institutions and corporate clients in a broad range of U.S, Canadian and other international transactions, including initial public offerings and private equity transactions and financings under the U.S.-Canada Multijurisdictional Disclosure System. Among other work in this space, he advised on the largest IPO in Canada in 2025.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2027 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers | 2027 | Capital Markets, Private Equity, High-Yield Debt |
| The 2026 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2026 | Capital Markets, Private Equity, High-Yield Debt |
| The 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Dealmakers in America | 2025 | Capital Markets, Private Equity, High-Yield Debt |
Recent representations include:
High-Yield (Non-Energy)
- Global Auto Holdings in its $1.05 billion inaugural high-yield notes offering and subsequent $500 million high-yield notes acquisition financing
- the initial purchasers in the $4 billion inaugural high-yield notes offering of CHPE LLC
- Belden Inc. in its €450 million high-yield notes offering
- Sands China Ltd. in multiple high-yield notes offerings aggregating in excess of $8 billion
- goeasy Ltd. in multiple high-yield notes offerings aggregating in excess of $1 billion
- the initial purchasers in the $1.6 billion high-yield notes offering of Novelis Corporation
- Frontier Communications Corporation in its $6.6 billion high-yield notes offering
- Navient Corp. in various high-yield notes offerings aggregating in excess of $1 billion
- Party City in various secured high-yield notes offerings, including an exchange offer for $850 million of existing high-yield notes
Private Capital Financings
- Acrisure Holdings in multiple preferred stock financings, including its $3 billion private placement of Series A and Series B preferred stock with BDT as lead investor and its $2.1 billion private placement of Series A-2 preferred stock with Bain Capital as lead investor
- Mubadala Investment Company PJSC as one of the lead co-investors with Silver Lake in the going-private acquisition of Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. at an enterprise value of $25 billion
Energy
- the underwriters in the $1.7 billion initial public offering of Venture Global, Inc.
- the initial purchasers in over $12 billion of high-yield notes offerings for Venture Global LNG, which included the largest and second-largest high-yield notes offerings in 2023
- the initial purchasers in the inaugural $2 billion high-yield notes offering of Cheniere Energy, Inc. and multiple high-yield and investment-grade secured and unsecured notes offerings, aggregating in excess of $9 billion, by its subsidiaries
Other
- Stanley Black & Decker in various public offerings, including its $750 million offering of subordinated debentures, $1 billion offering of senior notes and $675 million offering of equity units
- various issuers, including Meta Platforms, Inc., CME Group, Sunbelt Rentals, Las Vegas Sands, CI Financial Corp., AES Corp., Nutrien Ltd., Crane Co., WhiteWave Foods, Healthpeak Properties, Hillenbrand, Hasbro, XL, Ball Corp. and Activision, in investment-grade notes offerings aggregating in excess of $100 billion