Houlihan Lokey taps Credit Suisse exec to lead secondaries unit

Houlihan Lokey has hired a seasoned advisory professional from Credit Suisse to lead its secondaries practice, Secondaries Investor has learned.

New York-based director Sameer Shamsi will join the investment bank’s private funds group, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

His appointment comes off the back of the departure of former secondaries advisory head Richard Saltzman, who left Houlihan last September for Guggenheim Partners, as Secondaries Investor reported.

Shamsi’s experience includes Evercore and UBS prior to Credit Suisse, his LinkedIn profile shows. He joined the bank’s private fund group in 2017, as Secondaries Investor reported. The Swiss investment bank’s private fund group formed a unit last year called capital solutions that combines its advisory work on GP-led secondaries deals with its efforts sourcing capital for direct and co-investments. Paul Van Hook and Jeremy Duksin lead that team.

Credit Suisse ranked among the top six secondaries advisory firms by deal value worked on in 2019, according to the most recent Secondaries Investor Advisory Survey 2020. All of its deals that year were GP-led-focused.

Houlihan Lokey did not participate in that year’s survey.

There has been frenetic activity in the advisory sector over the past year, with Rothschild, Guggenheim, Goldman Sachs, Aviditi Advisors and Tradition among firms that have launched units.

Spokespeople for Credit Suisse and Houlihan Lokey declined to comment.