Mr. Thomas Heather heads the Firm's Latin American Financial Restructuring and Insolvency Practice Group and is widely regarded as one of the leading lawyers in México and Latin America. He has ample experience in the areas of restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, banking, securities and corporate governance, in which he has actively participated for more than 30 years.

Prior to joining White & Case, Mr. Heather was a partner at Ritch, Heather y Müeller, where he led the Mergers and Acquisitions, Banking, and Corporate Governance practice. He has represented a number of significant Mexican and foreign companies and banks in their transactions in México and abroad. As a financial law expert he has advised a number of governmental entities related with the financial services industry in México.

Mr. Heather has been at the forefront of significant precedent setting alternative dispute resolution and trade-related initiatives. In a high profile cross-border case, Mr. Heather was appointed the mediator in the Concurso Mercantil proceeding of Satélites Mexicanos, S. A. ("Satmex") at the request of México's Ministry of Communications and Transportation. He helped resolve conflicting claims of over US$800 million among secured and unsecured bondholders and the Mexican government. Mr. Heather concluded the successful exit of Satmex from its Concurso Mercantil and US Chapter 11 reorganization, both within twelve months.

Mr. Heather has advised financial institutions and industrial corporations in respect of litigation strategies involving shareholder suits and federal injunctive relief. He was counsel to Anheuser Busch with regard to the largest arbitration matter brought against a Mexican entity.

Recent and noteworthy restructurings and bankruptcy representations include:

• Corporación Durango, the largest paper and wood products company in México, acting as supporting restructuring counsel to the Company in its successful restructuring of nearly US$1 billion in debt pursuant to the Ley de Concursos Mercantiles in México, and its simultaneous ancillary proceeding before the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. He advises the US Financial and Restructuring Group of the Firm as counsel to the Company in a subsequent financial restructuring involving over US$500 million of unsecured notes issued by Durango; 
• Representing the Ad Hoc Group of Vitro Senior Noteholders, a group comprised of the holders of a majority of the US$1.2 billion in senior notes issued by Vitro, in connection with Vitro's default on the notes and its potential insolvency proceedings in the United States or México. Vitro, a Mexican company, is one of the world's largest glass manufacturers and distributors; 
• Representing the commercial bank derivative counterparties in the workout of a US$3.2 billion indebtedness of Corporación Comercial Mexicana, a complex workout that includes potential derivative claims in excess of US$2.3 billion; 
• Representing the derivative counterparties in Grupo Industrial Saltillo, a manufacturer of high-end construction materials, automobile engines and auto parts, in a restructuring involving approximately US$300 million in claims; 
• CEMEX, S.A., a leading Mexican multinational cement producer, addressing the restructuring of Mexican Peso indebtedness in excess of US$5 billion; 
• Grupo San Luis Rassini, the world's leading manufacturer of leaf springs and brakes to the automotive industry, in which he represented the agent, JPMorgan Chase Bank and lenders to Grupo San Luis Rassini and its subsidiaries in the US, Brazil and México, in a comprehensive restructuring of its overall debt of over US$350 million.

Mr. Heather has participated in the NAFTA negotiations with respect to the Financial Services Chapter, and has been selected on several occasions as an arbitrator by the ICC Court of International Arbitration in Paris. He has been recently appointed as arbitrator in the largest case brought under NAFTA, affecting the trucking industry. He has also successfully led the interests of the Government of México in policy issues and negotiations with the US Congress.

A co-founder and immediate past chair of the Mexican Mediation Institute, he chairs the Financial Law Section of the Mexican Bar Association and is a member of the Board of the Mexican Institute of Corporate Governance. He is currently a Vice-chair of the North American Forum of the International Bar Association, and has served or serves on the boards of a number of leading public corporations and financial institutions.

Mr. Heather is a frequent lecturer on financial and insolvency topics. In 2008, Mr. Heather accepted a prestigious appointment to the Advisory Board of the Harvard Law School's program on International Financial Institutions.

He has spoken at conferences and meetings at universities in México and the United States, such as Columbia University, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of New Mexico, among others.