Simpson Thacher hires secondaries duo in London

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has hired two secondaries partners in London to build out its fund transaction expertise.

The firm hired Ed Ford and Sacha Gofton-Salmond from Travers Smith as partners. They both specialize in structuring and negotiating complex deals including GP- and LP-led transactions, NAV financings, preferred equity financings and other structured processes.

Simpson Thacher hired Ford and Gofton-Salmond to help the firm’s private funds and fund transactions practices in advising sponsors and investors on liquidity processes such as secondaries transactions.

Jason Glover, head of Simpson Thacher’s London office and the firm’s European Funds team, said secondaries transactions have continued to grow in popularity in recent years and that growth is expected to be employed in a wider variety of strategies.

The firm expects that additional hires will be made as clients’ needs for counsel on secondaries transactions increases.