Gasant Orrie

Gasant Orrie

Cape Managing Partner, Director

Gasant Orrie is the Cape Managing Partner of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr and a Director in the Corporate & Commercial practice. Gasant covers most areas of corporate and commercial law with a focus on M&A in the financial services, hospitality and leisure, real estate, and transportation and tourism sectors. He has a special interest in corporate governance and anti-bribery and corruption compliance.

t +27 (0)21 405 6044 f +27 (0)21 481 5207
Career

Gasant practised in law firms in Cape Town and Johannesburg before being appointed Chief Legal Advisor at South Africa Airways in 1995. In this capacity, Gasant served as a member of the airline's Executive Committee, Aviation Safety Review Board and Transformation Committee. During 1997, Gasant joined Hofmeyr (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) as a director. Since September 2008 he held the position of Joint Managing Partner, Cape Town and was appointed as the Cape Managing Partner in 2011.

  • Advise companies, in both private and public sectors, on corporate governance matters including advising in relation to directors' duties, performing compliance checks with reference to their MOI's, shareholders' agreements and other arrangements, the Companies Act/Regulations and King Report, and follow-up work to update or redraft constitutional documents and shareholder agreements and other arrangements, preparation of board charters, and advice in relation to the establishment, role and functions, and terms of reference of board sub-committees (social and ethics committee, remuneration committee, risk management committee and audit committee, etcetera). Gasant has done numerous presentations and workshops for clients on corporate governance and related matters.
  • Advise companies, in both private and public sectors, on anti-bribery and corruption (ABAC) matters including performing ABAC due diligence and compliance checks, and furnishing advice in relation to ABAC policies, procedures and due diligence questionnaires. Gasant has done numerous presentations and workshops for clients on ABAC and related matters.
  • Acted for Old Mutual in relation to the disposal of its Latin American business interests. This was a multi-jurisdictional cross-border transaction involving the disposal of Old Mutual's assets in several South American countries.
  • Acted for Grand Parade Investments on the disposal of their casino slots interests to Sun International.
  • Acted for Grand Parade Investments on the disposal of their interests in Burger King South Africa to a US-based private equity fund.
  • Advised Novus Packaging on the disposal of their packaging interests to a BEE buyer.
  • Advised Paradigm Group on the disposal of a portion of their holding in Payment 24 to Standard Bank Private Equity.
  • Acted as South African legal advisor to New Europe Property Investments (NEPI) in relation to the merger of NEPI and Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company Limited into a Newco, and the listing of Newco shares on the JSE.
  • Acted for Premier Fishing Limited in relation to its IPO and listing on the JSE.
  • Acted for Stor-Age REIT Limited in relation to its IPO and listing on the JSE.
  • Acted for Old Mutual in relation to the acquisition of Grand Central Airport, Midrand. The work entailed extensive due diligence on the target entity/group, negotiation and drafting of the transaction documents, advice on regulatory matters, and implementation of the transaction.
  • Acted for Old Mutual in relation to the acquisition of a life insurer in Kenya, which has operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda and Mauritius. The work entailed extensive due diligence on the target entity/group (including co-ordination of the due diligence activities of in-country/local counsel), negotiation and drafting of the transaction documents, advice on regulatory matters, and implementation of the transaction.
  • Acted for the owners/management of Protea Hotels in relation to the disposal of their hotel business to Marriott Inc. The transaction involved several other African jurisdictions including Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania and Mauritius. The work entailed co-ordination of the due diligence investigation undertaken by the buyer on the target entity/group, negotiation and drafting of the transaction documents, advice on regulatory matters, and implementation of the transaction.
  • Acted for the owners/management of Protea Hotels in relation to the disposal of their interests in the company to an Australian investor and the subsequent repurchase thereof. The work entailed co-ordination of the due diligence investigation undertaken by the buyer on the target entity/group, negotiation and drafting of the transaction documents, advice on regulatory matters, and implementation of the transaction.
  • Acted for Istithmar PJSC, Leisurecorp LLC and Dubai World Group in relation to the acquisition and subsequent disposal of several of their investments in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa including Pearl Valley Golf Estates and several private game reserves in South Africa (Shamwari, Jock of the Bushveld, Sanbona and Nkomazi Wilderness), and various projects in Comores, Rwanda, Mozambique, Zanzibar and Djibouti.
  • Acted for Public Investment Corporation in relation to the acquisition of the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.
  • Acted for Transnet in relation to the restructuring, corporatisation and partial privatisation of South African Airways.
  • Extensively involved in due diligence work as either team lead or member of the legal workstream on several major M&A transactions including the FirstRand/Rand Merchant Bank merger, Gensec/Sanlam Asset Management merger and the South African Airways/Swissair transaction.
  • Acted for the South African Government and Transnet in relation to the disposal of Transnet's interest in Mobile Telephone Network (MTN).
  • Acted for the South African Government and Transnet in relation to the disposal of the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town to Dubai World and London & Regional.
  • Acted for the V&A Waterfront company in relation to several hotel development and building projects including the BP Head Office Building and Kerzner One&Only Hotel including drafting and negotiating various transaction agreements such as commercial leases and development agreements.
  • Acted for Protea Hotels in relation to several hotel projects, which included drafting and negotiating various transaction agreements such as shareholders' agreements, commercial leases and development agreements.
  • The Legal 500, EMEA series 2009 rated Gasant Tier 2 and highly recommends him as well establised in the Corporate and Commercial team. In 2018, Legal 500 EMEA recommended Gasant of Commercial, Corporate / M&A.
  • IFLR1000 2022 recommended Gasant as a highly regarded practitioner for M&A.
  • The IFLR1000 - Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms 2012 recommended Gasant.

Education

  • BA LLB, University of Cape Town
  • Year of admission as an attorney: 1991
  • Registered with the Legal Practice Council
Doing Business in South Africa
21 August 2017 Corporate & Commercial

Doing Business in South Africa

Cape Managing Partner and Director in our Corporate and Commercial practice Gasant Orrie, appeared on SABC's Prime Time Business Show to talk about Doing Business in South Africa.

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