Luis Roth

Luis is a respected debt and equity practitioner who has been based in Linklaters’ Paris office since 2001.

He specialises in offerings by foreign private and sovereign issuers, whether registered with the SEC or conducted pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S.

He often advises issuers and underwriters in French, Spanish and Italian equity offerings (IPOs, rights offerings, block trades) and debt transactions (high yield, Yankee bonds, MTNs and commercial paper). He also has significant experience in mergers and acquisitions and structured finance.

He is recognised as a leading lawyer by legal directories, with clients saying:

• "[He is] extremely knowledgeable and managed to keep things nice and calm, and cooled things down when discussions were tense. He is a really good negotiator, always looking to get the deal done. The most striking thing was that he is always very smooth and you would hardly ever put him in a difficult position, which really helped.

• "He is excellent: a meticulous, problem-solving lawyer.
• "He's hands-on and I trust his judgement. He has good business judgement and doesn't just offer legal advice.
• "He is great at preventing problems in a non-confrontational manner."
• “Technically strong" practice head Luis Roth is "very good with clients in navigating complex financial transactions”

Luis has been part of the Paris capital markets team since 2001. He has spent time in the Madrid office and works frequently with Linklaters lawyers there, as well as in Milan, Brussels and elsewhere in the network.

Outside of work, Luis is currently the chancellor of the American Cathedral of Paris and was previously chairman of the board of the American Library in Paris and president of the Yale Club of France.

Luis has advised on a wide range of finance transactions.

These include advising:

• The dealers in connection with US offerings of bonds and regulatory capital instruments by several French, Spanish and Belgian banks (including establishment of US MTN programs)

• issuers and underwriters on numerous IPOs on Euronext Paris and the Spanish Stock Exchanges
• the underwriters in Air Liquide’s rights offering, inaugural Yankee bond offering and Eurobond offering to finance the acquisition of Airgas
• Solvay in its rights offering, inaugural Yankee bond offering and Eurobond offering to finance the acquisition of Cytec
• the underwriters in initial Yankee bond offerings by Danone and Schneider Electric
• numerous French and Spanish issuers in their initial and subsequent high yield bond offerings
• CGG in its debt restructuring involving a safeguard proceeding in France and chapter 11 and chapter 15 proceedings in the US
• Holcim in the US securities aspects of its combination with Lafarge
• Air France in the SEC and NYSE aspects of its combination with KLM
  

Luis was graduated cum laude from Yale College with a degree in Economics before obtaining his law degree (JD) from Columbia University School of Law.

He speaks English, Spanish, French and German.