Francis Fitzherbert-Brockholes, who has qualified both as an English barrister and as a member of the New York Bar, represents banks and other private and public entities and sovereign governments in various financial transactions, with particular emphasis on their activities in the international capital markets. He is the co-head of the Firm's European capital markets group and head of the London office practice group.

Francis has also had considerable experience in acquisitions of public and private companies, in the establishment and organisation of financial institutions and investment funds, in the privatisation of state-owned enterprises and in the organisation of other multi-jurisdictional transactions.

He has advised on many equity and debt offerings, securitisations and ECP and EMTN programmes. These include both registered and unregistered debt and equity offerings in the United States, as well as many offerings outside the United States, including some of the first international offerings by issuers from Central and Eastern Europe and Asia.

Francis works for sovereign governments in such areas as international financing, external debt rescheduling and restructuring and privatisation.

One highlight of his work has been leading the team in drafting Kazakhstan's banking restructuring law, which enabled BTA and Alliance Banks to restructure in excess of US$20 billion of liabilities and which has been acknowledged as the first "bail-in" restructuring of a financial institution. These restructurings were recognised and enforced by the courts in both New York and London. This work won the 'Legal Innovation in Financial Services' award in the 2009 Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards.

Francis has lectured extensively on various aspects of his practice at seminars and conferences. He has been a partner in the Firm since 1985, having joined the Firm as an associate in 1978. Prior to that, he practiced at the English Bar and in New York.

Recent transactions include:

• Acting for BTA Bank and Alliance Bank of Kazakhstan in their financial restructurings;
• Acting for the underwriters of various bond issues, including the debut offerings by Serbia and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic;
• Acting for a number of sovereigns in their recent offerings, including Poland, Latvia and Lithuania;
• Acting for Svenska Handelsbanken and its subsidiary Stadshypotek in relation to their US MTN Programs and the offering under them;
• Acting for Zhaikmunai LP in its US$100 million IPO in March 2008, the first London listing of GDRs representing limited partnership interests and its subsequent offering in 2009; and
• Acting for Deutsche Bank as depositary on numerous ADR and GDR programmes.

Francis is also a trustee of a number of charities including The Deutsche Bank Microcredit Development Fund, The Oratory School Association, Lancaster University and The Brampton Trust.

Bars and Courts
New York State Bar, 1978
England and Wales, 1975

Education
BA (Hons), MA, in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford, 1973

Languages
English

Citizenship
British