A Cross-jurisdictional Private Capital Success Story

Amy Bohannon and Victoria Gillam share their perspectives on how the legacy Shearman & Sterling culture, ethos, and training shaped their careers; the challenges and opportunities of establishing a multijurisdictional private capital firm; and the benefits of working with the merged A&O Shearman.

Alternative asset manager Tikehau Capital is a real growth story in private capital, and invests in credit, real assets, private equity, and capital markets strategies. It's a client of our firm and, like us, has anchors on both sides of the Atlantic.

Founded in 2004, the Paris-listed firm boasts 735 employees across 17 countries. It has EUR51 billion in assets under management (AUM), and EUR3.1bn in shareholder equity.

Among its senior management are three legacy Shearman & Sterling alumni: Amy Bohannon, Americas general counsel; Victoria Gillam, co-head of the London office, managing director, deputy general counsel and head of investment and corporate legal; and Jackson Murley, North America associate general counsel.

An aligned culture, ethos, and training

Our alumni often describe the law as a good toolkit, and a strong foundation for other careers.

In Victoria's view, she learned a set of skills at Shearman & Sterling (2008–2012) that she continues to apply. She describes investments—whether debt or equity in nature, and across asset classes—as allocations of risks to back certain companies.

She says the experience gained at Shearman & Sterling has given her an "entrepreneurial grounding, the ability to assess risk quickly, put together pieces of a complex puzzle, and an appreciation for building the lasting relationships that are crucial to closing deals."

Amy's time at Shearman & Sterling (2004–2012) gave her the opportunity to work across disciplines: litigation, M&A, capital markets and any other transactions that had a U.S. Investment Company Act or U.S. Investment Advisors Act angle.

"The breadth of that experience has served me well in my career. As a result, I have a deep knowledge of investment fund and investment adviser regulation, which is central to our U.S. business at Tikehau Capital, and am also asked for advice on a broad spectrum of U.S. law. As the first U.S.-qualified lawyer at Tikehau, I draw on my cross-disciplinary experiences at Shearman to respond to many of those queries."

While she and Victoria did overlap at Shearman & Sterling in New York, they didn't directly know each other. However, working together now feels familiar. Thanks to their training, the two have similar approaches, despite their different geographic focuses.

Amy feels the same affinity with her associate general counsel, Jackson Murley, who worked in the firm's project finance group under partner, Paul Epstein.

"I really appreciated the culture, which was very collegial," she says. "I still have lots of friends from those years, and stay in touch with people both junior and senior to me who have been there throughout my career."

For example, Azam Aziz (U.S. head of global financial markets and private capital sector lead) has been a great support, while Jen Morton is always on hand to provide advice. Another longstanding contact is Jessica Delbaum.

Steps to a truly multijurisdictional firm

In her new role running the London office—Tikehau's second largest—Victoria continues to view the UK capital as the bridge between Europe, the U.S., and Asia.

Post Brexit, the French-headquartered firm had to update certain approvals from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other regulators, to ensure that the firm maintained its suite of European regulatory permissions.

Nearly ten years on from the referendum, London is still a magnet for investment professionals, with many of their firms extending their leases or entering into new lease agreements.

"It was always my strong belief that the City of London would remain a world class financial center."

English is still the principal language of finance, as it's always been at Tikehau, notes Victoria. In fact, the firm has increased its staff in London to around 72 full-time employees.

Despite slower growth, the UK and Europe provide a more stable and predictable environment compared to the U.S.—an advantage Tikehau is highlighting to its Asian and U.S. investors as new tariff regulations emerge globally. Victoria sees Tikehau as a compelling European growth story, which the firm is actively communicating across its international network.

Tikehau has eight investment offices in Europe, allowing local teams to execute deals within their respective markets. While this decentralized model requires substantial investment and is more expensive than operating solely from London, these satellite teams enhance the firm's ability to source and manage opportunities locally.

"Tikehau has boots on the ground locally to be able to partner with local players and deliver tailored transactions for all of our clients," she says.

From strategy to scale in the U.S.

Across the Atlantic, Tikehau launched in New York in 2017 with four employees. The office now has around 50 staff, making it the third largest after Paris and London.

Amy describes the firm as "rooted in France, collegial, and team-oriented, where personal relationships are valued."

"It's harder when you're coming from outside the U.S., a big market that already has a lot of players," says Amy. "However, despite the many barriers to entry, we've been successful and will continue to be so."

She credits this to two main factors: one of the co-founders—Mathieu Chabran—moving to New York to support the expansion, and New Yorkers being open-minded and welcoming towards new people to the market. The company has been well-received and is enjoying growing brand recognition.

Initially in the U.S., Tikehau focused its efforts on three strategies: infrastructure finance, private debt secondaries, and a collateralized loan obligations (CLO) platform. Its real assets and private equity platforms are currently expanding into the U.S. Amy supports all of these teams.

Tikehau's U.S. infrastructure platform focuses on investments in public-private partnerships with projects including bridges, tunnels and airports—such as the new terminals at JFK airport in New York.

Benefits of working with a global firm

Tikehau has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with legacy Allen & Overy, particularly due to its extensive network of European offices. "In jurisdictions like Belgium, they are our go-to law firm for everything," Victoria notes.

Currently, A&O Shearman is assisting Tikehau with establishing a fund in Luxembourg to finance retention equity for all of its U.S. and European CLOs. The firm is also advising on a real estate financing in Italy, as well as on various assets in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, where Victoria highlights the team's particular strength in leveraged and real estate finance. Additionally, A&O Shearman is supporting Tikehau on multiple U.S. real estate transactions.

"A&O Shearman is the largest law firm partner across Tikehau's asset classes and jurisdictions, and it's our principal legal partner on the investment side," says Victoria.

She adds that the merger with a top-performing U.S. firm was instrumental in enabling Tikehau's entry into the U.S. market, which has traditionally been challenging for European and Magic Circle firms.

Given that Tikehau's cross-border deals often involve assets and teams in multiple jurisdictions, the firm requires both depth and breadth in legal expertise across every country in which it operates. "We know we can make one call to A&O Shearman, and they'll handle whatever we need, regardless of the asset class, complexity or jurisdiction," Victoria concludes.

Amy agrees, and points out that while legacy Shearman & Sterling had always had a European practice, it is now even better positioned to help Tikehau with a large variety of cross-border advice.

Amy Bohannon: From the south to the north and back again

As a public policy major at Duke, Amy Bohannon inherited her father's interest in the law but hadn't intended to pursue it as a profession. Three years after graduating, she changed her mind, opting to study law at Vanderbilt in Nashville.

Amy had also never planned to live in New York City, where both she and her now-husband—a patent litigation lawyer at Perkins Coie—both found jobs.

She joined Shearman & Sterling's asset management group, having been introduced by a friend who had summered in the group.

Amy ended up finding her niche in the "40 Act", more formally known as the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940, which regulates all investment funds—in particular mutual funds. The legislation became central to her mastery of mutual funds.

Once she gained an insight into private fund formation, she found she preferred working with private funds over mutual funds.

"I decided to focus on private funds from that point on and worked in both private equity and hedge fund formation for the rest of my career at Shearman."

In 2012, she moved to J.C. Flowers (JCF), a U.S. financial services private equity investor that at the time employed around 50 people, four of whom were lawyers. The lean team meant she had to be able to handle any kind of legal issue and be involved at the operational level.

"JCF expanded my perspective, my ability to manage deals, gave me operational experience in the financial services industry, and also some private family office experience," says Amy.

Another positive aspect of the in-house role was having ownership of decisions, and then experiencing the impact of them further down the line.

In pursuit of a general counsel role, in 2021 she moved to Tikehau. After many years of working on trans-national deals at both Shearman and JCF, a European firm seemed like a natural fit. Amy was the first U.S.-qualified in-house lawyer at Tikehau, where she has deepened her understanding of the European regulatory framework and its interaction with U.S. law.

Once-in-a-lifetime experience

One of Amy's most memorable matters at Shearman was working with Adam Hakki (now co-chair of A&O Shearman's executive committee and board and U.S. chair) on litigation brought against Galleon Group, a hedge fund whose founder Raj Rajaratnam had been accused of insider trading in 2009.

Together, they advised Galleon Management on the U.S. government's insider-trading investigation and the wind-down of its funds, as a separate counsel to the management company to avoid a conflict of interest with the founder.

"It might seem odd for someone who thinks of herself as a 'deal lawyer' and who has never had any interest in being a litigator to cite a litigation as a 'favorite' Shearman experience," says Amy. "But I view this experience as central to rounding out my legal toolkit, since it gave me insight into all potential legal situations an investment management firm might experience.

"I was brought in as the fund attorney, and while not officially seconded, spent a lot of my day at their offices after their general counsel departed. It was a rare close-up look at litigation for a deal lawyer, and fantastic training to act as a problem solver in such a fraught situation.

"That I was able to have so many varied experiences is a testament to Shearman's, and now A&O Shearman's, clients and breadth of practice groups. All of this informs my thinking about risk as in-house counsel."

Reconnect with Amy Bohannon.

Victoria Gillam: a track record of deal-making and execution

While studying Economics at Cambridge, Victoria completed a summer internship at Shearman & Sterling, which inspired her to pursue a career in law. Thanks to the UK's system of allowing students to qualify as lawyers after their undergraduate studies, she began her legal career in New York at just 24 years old.

This gave her a head start over her American peers, who typically enter the profession at 27 or 28 due to the U.S. requirement for postgraduate legal education.

Victoria started out as a trainee in bank financing, gaining hands-on experience in capital markets and leveraged finance transactions. She later moved to SJ Berwin, which later merged with King & Wood Mallesons. There, she expanded her expertise to include funds financing. In 2017, she joined Tikehau as its UK general counsel.

Now leading the investment legal and execution team, Victoria sees herself as both a lawyer and an investment professional—skills that are both essential in the competitive world of leveraged finance. She also enjoys working on the sponsor side as Tikehau increases its private equity activity.

"I'm passionate about deals, which have been my focus for the past 18 years," says Victoria. "Whether it's a major transaction or a smaller real estate deal, the process and the players are much the same. Experience is invaluable; the more deals you do, the better you understand risk allocation and the process."

Tikehau invests alongside its clients in every fund, ensuring interests are aligned. "Our substantial balance sheet and co-investment approach reassures investors that we're committed and have significant skin in the game in each strategy," she explains.

The firm covers a range of risk strategies, from special opportunities targeting returns of 13–20%, to safer direct lending options offering 7–8%. Ultimately, investors are placing their trust in the management team and the underlying assets.

Victoria and her team combine legal and commercial analysis to make swift decisions, embrace innovative deal structures, and maximize returns. "Every transaction involves balancing complex interests," she says. "There's always some ambiguity. For example, if we made our term sheets entirely lender-friendly and pushed for all lender terms, sponsors wouldn't see us as a suitable partner for their financings.

"In nearly every negotiation, compromise is necessary, and both sides are generally open to addressing genuine concerns. The key is to identify and discuss these issues with our investors—they've entrusted us with their capital."

Memorable deal

One of Victoria's stand-out experiences at Shearman was working with the Abu Dhabi United Group on its acquisition of Manchester City—her hometown football club—in 2008.

"As a lifelong Manchester City supporter, it was a thrill. My boss at the time, Simon Cliff, later became the club's general counsel."

After the deal, Victoria persuaded Lawrence Levy, head of M&A, to let her work directly with Simon in Manchester. "I pestered Laurence to let me go and help Simon in Manchester (I wanted to go and help him buy football players for my club!), and that's the kind of initiative needed in deal-making."

Reconnect with Victoria Gillam.

The upward trajectory of private capital

• The value of private capital continues to grow, with global assets under management (AUM) reaching an estimated USD17.7 trillion by the end of 2024. Drivers include strong investor demand from institutional and more latterly retail investors, portfolio diversification and the potential of higher yield than public markets.
• Private capital is an umbrella term for investments made in assets not traded on public markets, encompassing private equity, venture capital, private debt, private credit, real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources. With financing from institutional investors such as pension funds and insurers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, private capital provides a significant alternative to public market investments.
• A&O Shearman's global private capital team advises fund managers, fund investors, portfolio companies and management teams across the full investment lifecycle. We act on matters from fund formation to financing and capital markets deals, M&A, regulatory issues, tax matters, disputes, financial restructurings and insolvencies.

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