England - London • Investment fund formation and management
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP continues to handle numerous high value fund closings, representing a vast array of private investment fund sponsors worldwide, alongside a booming secondaries practice. The team is led by Richard Watkins, who is recommended for his handling of complex private fund structuring and related transactional work, including multiple liquidity related transactions. Watkins is supported by a strong bench, including credit, real estate and private equity fund formation expert Anand Damodaran, the liquidity transactions focused Andrew Shore, and levered and unlevered parallel arrangement structures specialist Amala Ejikeme. Theodore Cardos is another central name in the team, offering expertise in synthetic and stapled secondary offerings as well as other transactional forms. Amy Fox, Aleksander Bakic and Catherine Gokah are all also integral team members who are noted for their expertise in the private funds space.
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Leading individuals
Anand Damodaran is an investment funds partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. Anand primarily advises private investment fund sponsors on the formation of credit, private equity and real estate funds. He also advises on the establishment of carried interest and co-investment schemes, secondaries and strategic fund sponsor transactions.
Amala Ejikeme is a partner in the Investment Funds Group at Kirkland & Ellis International LLP and focuses on advising European and global sponsors on the establishment of private funds pursuing a wide variety of investment strategies (including buyout, credit, growth, impact, infrastructure, real estate and venture). Amala has advised sponsors on traditional private equity fund structures, as well as structures incorporating long-dated, evergreen, open-ended, multiple currency, and levered/unlevered arrangements. He routinely advises clients on the formation of separately managed accounts, co-investments, as well as on management company issues and carried interest arrangements. He has also advised on strategic firm transactions and extraordinary events, such as investor default and founder separations.
Andy Shore is an investment funds partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. Andy primarily advises private investment fund sponsors in relation to the structuring and establishment of private investment funds investing across all major alternative investment strategies in addition to the carried interest and co-investment plans associated with such funds. Andy also advises on a broad range of other transactions relating to private investment funds including secondary transactions, fund restructurings, co-investment arrangements, management team spin-outs and management company transactions.
Richard Watkins is an investment funds partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. Richard primarily advises in relation to private equity fund structuring, carried interest, co-investment and other private equity incentive schemes and also advises on private equity transactions including secondaries, spin-outs and mergers of private equity houses.
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Aleksander Bakic is an investment funds partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. He advises clients on the structuring and negotiation of a wide range of secondary transactions, from fund book deals to GP and LP-led restructurings of single assets or wider portfolios. Aleks has particular experience in highly complex, cross-border transactions involving management spin-outs, stapled, syndicated and tendered deals, as well as deferred consideration. In addition, Aleks works with private equity funds and their investors on a wide range of investment funds matters. His experience spans across private equity, infrastructure and credit products, in established and developing markets.
Theodore Cardos is a private funds partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. Theodore’s practice primarily involves structuring, negotiating and documenting complex business transactions in the private funds secondary market, including traditional portfolio sales, structured secondaries, synthetic secondaries, stapled secondary offerings, preferred equity and fund recapitalizations. Theodore also advises private funds in connection with direct co-investments and other transactional matters.
Amy Fox is an investment funds partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. Amy primarily represents sponsors on the formation and operation of private investment funds across a broad range of investment strategies, and other aspects of private investing in alternative asset classes, including separate account arrangements and co-investments. Amy’s practice also includes advising clients on secondary transactions, management company transactions and complex carried interest, sponsor co-investment and similar incentive arrangements.
Catherine Gokah is a partner in the Investment Funds Group in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. She has extensive experience advising fund sponsors with respect to their core fundraising activities across multiple alternative asset classes including infrastructure, real estate and credit.
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Richard Watkins