Jaco Meyer

Jaco joined Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr in April 2020. He was previously at a multinational firm in Melbourne, Australia. Jaco was appointed Senior Associate in 2021 and was appointment Director in September 2022.

• Advising Valterra Platinum on its requirements in respect of its supply chain.

• Advising on merger and acquisition transactions and drafting and negotiating merger and acquisition transaction agreements across a number of industries.

• Advising on company law and general commercial and corporate matters.

• Drafting, negotiating and reviewing constitutional documents, memoranda of incorporation, shareholders' agreements and general company secretarial attendances.

• Advising on all aspects of establishing and doing business in South Africa, including BEE, corporate governance and Companies Act compliance, as well as specific regulatory advice in the mining, aviation, industrial and logistics sectors.

• Drafting transaction agreements relating to the implementation of BEE ownership structures.

• Advising South32, a global mining and metals company headquartered in Perth, Australia (listed on the ASX and JSE), with its South African office headquartered in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, on high value long-term supply and offtake agreements, standard form and bespoke agreements for all steps of the supply chain, as well as corporate documents such as shareholders' agreements, memoranda of incorporation, trust deeds, committee charters and resolutions.

• Assisted Loesche South Africa in respect of its template agreements for the procurement of goods and services.

• Acted for the target company, a cement producer in Southern Africa, in the proposed acquisition of some of its share capital by a foreign company.

• Advising Anglo American on a number of general commercial issues in respect of its supply chain.

• Advised Knight Piesold in its joint venture with a Greek engineering consulting company and a multinational construction company in respect of the consulting, engineering and construction of infrastructure in Botswana.

• Advised Computershare, a multinational company secretarial services provider, on the proposed acquisition of the entire issued share capital of a local company secretarial services provider.

• Advised the Goldrush Group in its joint venture with a Botswanan company and a Zimbabwean company, respectively, to establish and operate a gambling business in Botswana and Zimbabwe.

• • Advising a diversified afro-global conglomerate in respect of the construction of infrastructure in the DRC.

• Advised a 51% black-owned coal mining company on:

  • the acquisition of various mining and prospecting rights in South Africa; and
  • the acquisition of a Build-Own-Operate-and-Transfer beneficiation and coal wash plant.

• Advised a 51% black-owned coal mining company on; the acquisition of various mining and prospecting rights in South Africa; and the acquisition of a Build-Own-Operate-and-Transfer beneficiation and coal wash plant.

• Advised a multinational metal alloys and other metallurgical products company on; the disposal of its non-core assets (timber farms) used in connection with its silicon smelter; and its empowerment restructure.

• The empowerment restructure involved exiting the existing black shareholders and creating new shareholders in a manner that ensured the "once empowered, always empowered" principle applied. It also involved preparing new documentation, specifically a memorandum of incorporation, shareholders' agreement and trust deed, to regulate the relationship between the new shareholders.

• Advised Clientèle Limited, listed on the JSE, on the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of 1Life Insurance Limited.

• Advising a consortium on the acquisition of a specialised agri-inputs business across Southern Africa, East Africa, and Turkey.

• Advised Top Vending on the termination of its distribution relationship with Nestlé, and the subsequent sale of the South African Nespresso® business to Nestlé.

• Advised a multinational information technology and defence systems company on the equity financing of its South African subsidiary.

• Advised one of South Africa's largest book retailers regarding the carve-out of a portion of its business (in respect of a specific O.R. Tambo International Airport tender) and the subsequent empowerment of that stand-alone business. The work involved the drafting and negotiating of key transaction documents, including new memoranda of incorporation, shareholders' agreements, incorporation minutes, etc.

• Advised numerous HNIs on the restructure of their group entities and affairs. The work involved the drafting of bespoke memoranda of incorporation, incorporation documents, asset-for-share agreements and various company secretarial attendances.

• Advised a family group comprising 17 companies and 10 trusts valued at approximately AUD84 million, on the division of its real property portfolio between various beneficiaries.

• Advised a telecommunications company listed on the ASX on the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of three other private telecommunications companies as part of its strategic growth plan.

• Advised a multinational pharmaceuticals company on its license and supply agreement with another company for an exclusive license to commercialise its intellectual property in the USA. In terms of the agreement, the company received payments and milestone fees in equity and cash for an amount of at least USD295 million.

• The Legal 500 EMEA 2024 - 2025 recommended Jaco for commercial, corporate/M&A.
• IFLR1000 2025 recognised Jaco as a 'notable practitioner' in Corporate and M&A.