Expertise
Banking & Finance
Capital Markets
Corporate
Infrastructure
John Davis focuses on infrastructure and PPP, banking, capital markets, and corporate matters. His clients include multilateral banks and donors, international investment banks, Vietnamese state-owned and private banks as well as foreign investors in a variety of fields power and water. He has been involved in infrastructure projects for most of the years that he has practiced in Vietnam and throughout the region since 1995. As Vietnam’s banking and capital markets have developed, he has been involved in major debt, equity and derivative transactions as well as in equitization of State-owned enterprises. In addition to his transactional practice, Mr. Davis is active as a consultant to governments in the region. He advises them on the reform of laws affecting infrastructure and PPP and on regulatory issues.
Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D. (1986)
University of Wisconsin-Madison, J.D. (1989)
Boston College, A.B. (1970)
Bar Membership
Supreme Court of Wisconsin
U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin
U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit
U.S. Tax Court
U.S. Supreme Court
Ministry of Justice of Vietnam (Foreign Lawyer)
Senior Courts of England and Wales (Solicitor)
Banking, Finance and Capital Markets
- Regularly advises a major offshore investment bank on regulatory issues in Vietnam;
- Represented two international investment banks as underwriters and managers of a $110 million VND denominated-bond issued by a Vietnamese private bank;
- Represented a Vietnamese bank in negotiating credit-linked derivatives issued by an international commercial bank;
- Advised an international investment bank on derivative transactions generally and in specific cases with Vietnamese counterparties;
- Represented a major Vietnamese private bank in a convertible bond rights issue to raise Tier 2 capital; and
- Advised the three leading Vietnamese state-owned commercial banks, Vietcombank, Vietinbank and BIDV, on their equitizations.
Corporate
- Advised a leading multinational service provider on structuring of its local partners’ ownership and their relationship to the firm’s regional and international holding companies.
Infrastructure
- Assisted IFC transaction advisory team in advising the Vietnam Ministry of Investment & Trade on development and negotiation of the Nghi Son II Thermal Power Project, 2006-2013;
- Assisted IFC transaction advisory team in advising the Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power on procurement of Myingyan Combined Cycle Gas BOT Power Project 2014;
- Assisted IFC transaction advisory team in advising the Ministry of Investment & Trade on development and negotiation of Tina River BOT Hydropower Project 2014;
- Advised Fiji Ministry of Power on development of mini-electric grids for renewable power in off-grid areas 2018;
- Assisted IFC transaction advisory team in advising PT SMI on development and procurement of Umbulan Water Treatment and Pipeline BOT in East Java 2012 and 2013;
- Advised Asian Development Bank regarding equity investment in and loan to Thu Duc Water Treatment Plant BOT Project 1998-2001; and
- Advised Thanh Hoa Province People’s Committee and Asian Development Bank on development of a waste water treatment system for the Nghi Son Economic Zone 2013.
Comments
“Nuanced and informed approach”
(Chambers)
- “PPP in India, Thailand and Vietnam.” Presented at IFC-Indonesia Ministry of Finance Workshop on Establishment of PPP Unit, February 5, 2013;
- “Vietnamese Tort Law: An Economic Analysis.” Presented at the 9th Asian Law Institute Conference, Singapore, May 31-June 1, 2012. Sustainability – A Contested Concept: The Case of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)’s Corporate Governance Code.” Presented at the 8th Asian Law Institute Conference, Kyushu University, Fukuoka Japan, May 26-27, 2011;
- “Vietnam” (with Mai Kim Dzung) The International Legal Guide to: Corporate Governance 2010 (London: Global Legal Group, 2010), Chapter 26;
- “The Fiduciary Duties of Vietnamese Directors.” Presented at International Finance Corporation-NexisLexis Vietnam Corporate Governance Forum, Ho Chi Minh City, October 8 & 9, 2009. Also participant in Panel Discussion on Shareholders and Stakeholders as an Impetus to Improving Corporate Governance Practices of Vietnamese Companies;
- “Strategic Sales in Equitisations.” (with Duong Thu Ha) International Financial Law Review, Special Supplement, 2009 Guide to Mergers & Acquisitions, June 2009;
- “The Developing Fiduciary Duty Standard in Vietnamese Corporate Law.” Presented at the 6th Asian Law Institute Conference, Hong Kong, May 27-28, 2009;
- “Discretion in ASEAN Competition Law.” Presented at conference on Challenges in Competition Law in Asia sponsored by the Asian Competition Forum and GTZ, Jakarta, May 23, 2007;
- Speaker on “Power and Energy” panel, The 2nd Annual Vietnam Investment Forum: Financing Growth, Asia’s Next Tiger, March 19-20, 2007 Hanoi, Vietnam. Organized by Euromoney and SCIC;
- “The KPPU [Business Competition Supervision Commission] As a New Kind of Player in Indonesia’s Legal System” in Timothy Lindsey (ed.) Indonesia: Law & Society 2nd edition (Melbourne: Federation Press and Singapore: ISEAS, 2008). Also presented at the Asian Law Institute Inaugural Conference, Singapore, May 27-28, 2004; and
- “Changing Legal Environment for Vietnamese BOT Projects (with Truong Nhat Quang). Vietnam Investment Review (March 11 and 18, 2000).
