Clara Hansen
Biography
Clara Hansen is an associate in Baker McKenzie's Antitrust & Competition Practice Group in Johannesburg.
Clara's experience spans all facets of antitrust and competition law throughout numerous African jurisdictions, including cross-border merger control, prohibited practices, compliance, corporate leniency and foreign investment review.
Clara advises and represents blue chip multinational companies on high value and complex merger transactions, as well as on antitrust litigation relating to abuse of dominance, cartel conduct and vertical restraints.
Clara advises and acts for clients in various industries including, pharmaceutical, technology, financial services, mining and construction.
Clara has spent time in our M&A practice where she assisted on matters involving public and private mergers and acquisitions, private equity and corporate governance, venture capital transactions, and the commercial aspects of intellectual property. Her areas of focus included general corporate and commercial law, corporate governance, due diligence investigations, corporate reorganisations and mergers and acquisitions.
Clara also has experience in the energy, mining and infrastructure sector where her focus included local and international energy and infrastructure projects. She provided corporate advisory and other commercial legal services to local and international project sponsors, developers, contractors and lenders in complex greenfield and brownfield developments, advising on citing, permitting and regulatory concerns.
As an energy, mining and infrastructure practitioner, Clara advised on and assisted on several high-profile solar, wind, biomass and hydropower projects. She has been involved and assisted on matters concerning PPP and concession agreements, project strategy and structuring EPC contracts, including standard and bespoke forms of contracts, operation and maintenance contracts, fuel purchase and sale agreements and related matters.
Representative Legal Matters
Antitrust & Competition
- Advised Bidvest Branded Products Holdings Proprietary Limited, a division of JSE-listed The Bidvest Group Limited, on the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Roan Systems Proprietary Limited, The Printer Distribution Company Proprietary Limited, Roan Safety Products Proprietary Limited and Channel Label Solutions Proprietary Limited as indivisible transaction, which included conducting a due diligence investigation, preparing a due diligence report and drafting the sale and purchase agreement and applicable resolutions, and obtaining merger clearance in South Africa.
- Advised Blantyre Capital on successfully obtaining merger clearance in South Africa on its acquisition of control over Dynamic Commodities.
- Advised Chr Hansen Holding A/S on the African merger control aspects of the merger between Novozymes A/S and Chr Hansen Holding, a statutory merger implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Danish Companies Act.
- Advised and assisted Sika AG in relation to its high-profile acquisition of chemical admixture and chemical construction systems provider, MBCC Group, in South Africa, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The transaction had a deal value of EUR 5.2 billion.
Energy, Mining & Infrastructure
- Advised the lender group in relation to the project financing of the development, design, engineering, financing, insurance, procurement, construction, star-up, testing, commissioning and completion of the Ngodwana Biomass Power Project, located near Mbombela, Mpumalanga Province in South Africa.
- Advised on the development, establishment and implementation of a gas aggregator model in South Africa for industrial customers and the underpinning contractual frameworks necessary to support an aggregator model.
- Advised on the development of a carbon credit programme for a financial institution trading in the South African carbon credit market.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Law Society of South Africa
- Association of Competition Law Practitioners of South Africa
Admissions
- South Africa (2024)
Education
- University of the Witwatersrand (LLM Environmental Law) (2021)
- University of Pretoria (LLB) (2020)
- University of Pretoria (Bachelor of Arts in Law) (2018)
Languages
- English
- Afrikaans