Global law firm Clifford Chance, alongside financial advisor Lazard, successfully guided the Government of Sri Lanka through its sovereign bond exchange offer.
This marks the conclusion of a multi-year effort to restore the country’s debt sustainability following a moratorium in April 2022.
The bond exchange offer, regarded as one of the most complex in recent years, introduced innovations to the sovereign debt restructuring framework, including macro-linked and governance-linked bonds. Clifford Chance played a critical role in the legal structuring and drafting of these instruments.
The final distribution of new bonds from the holding period arrangement was completed on February 2025.
Clifford Chance partner Deborah 27th of Zandstra, who led the mandate, expressed gratitude for the two-and-a-half-year collaboration with Sri Lankan authorities, the IMF country team, and the Paris Club Secretariat.
Zandstra’s core team included partner Jon Zonis and senior associates James Kelton and Sophie Wilkinson, with additional support from the broader Clifford Chance network. The firm also advised on Sri Lanka’s broader sovereign debt restructuring, covering domestic debt, agreements with official bilateral creditors, and commercial creditors like the China Development Bank. This work was carried out in collaboration with the Official Creditor Committee at the Paris Club and IMF staff, as part of Sri Lanka’s IMF-Supported Program, which received approval for its Third Review on February 28, 2025.
