A&O Shearman makes major London secondaries push

A&O Shearman has hired Stephenson Harwood partners Gabriel Boghossian and Sarah de Ste Croix along with their team, in a significant expansion of its London secondaries practice.

The pair will join as global heads of secondaries, bolstering A&O Shearman's private capital offering as the firm targets a growing market for transactions that provide liquidity to private equity firms and investors.

Stephenson Harwood has one of the market’s top secondaries practices, with Boghossian currently heading it up, while de Ste Croix leads its private equity practice. The pair advise on GP-led and LP-led secondaries, including continuation vehicles and portfolio transactions.

Boghossian said the move would give the team “significantly more firepower and reach”, while Ste Croix posted to LinkedIn: “Full team, same personal touch: no break in service. Business as usual, but better.”

Secondaries shuffle

The hires add A&O Shearman to a growing battle for specialist secondaries talent in London.

Debevoise last week hired Freshfields global private funds and secondaries co-head Mary Lavelle, adding her to its private fund transactions and investment management groups.

Weil hired Kirkland secondaries partner Charles Cooper-Isow in April, having previously brought Simon Saitowitz back from Ropes & Gray. Saitowitz has since been reported to be moving to Simpson Thacher.

The hiring reflects the growth of a once relatively niche corner of private equity as sponsors and investors increasingly turn to continuation funds, portfolio sales and other transactions to generate liquidity.

Around $40 billion of secondaries transactions were completed globally in the first quarter of 2026, according to investment bank PJT Partners, with GP-led deals accounting for a majority of activity.