CDH welcomes the appointment of its new partners

With effect 1 April 2018, Ashley Pillay, Ayanda Mhlongo, Nkcubeko Mbambisa and Tessmerica Moodley, based at CDH’s Cape Town office; and Heinrich Louw, Roxanna Valayathum and Tamarin Tosen, based at the firm’s Johannesburg office, have been promoted to partner.

The majority of the new appointments are from CDH’s award-winning Corporate & Commercial practice. Recognised by DealMakers as the local law firm that has consistently advised on the highest number of M&A deals in South Africa, CDH received the prestigious M&A Deal Flow award earlier this year, for the ninth consecutive year in a row. CDH’s Chief Executive Officer, Brent Williams, believes the firm’s ‘learning’ culture and strong mentorship from existing partners played a key role in nurturing and shaping these new partners.

Williams says, “Our entire firm congratulates the new appointees. We are all very proud to see them reaching this milestone in their careers. As a firm, we believe a partner’s role goes beyond pure practice and as leaders, each individual plays a key role in mentoring the next generation of partners. I am confident each of our new partners will embrace this challenge as they take on their new role.”

The newly appointed partners offer different specialties and strengths within their areas of expertise:

• Ayanda Mhlongo focuses on general corporate commercial matters, mergers and acquisitions, corporate structuring and the commercial aspects of renewable energy and infrastructure project transactions. He also has experience in the liquor industry, particularly in regulatory advisory work.
• As the youngest black African partner at the firm, Nkcubeko Mbambisa has a broad knowledge of corporate and commercial law, with a specific focus on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and private equity. This includes drafting commercial contracts, commercial law legal opinions, providing transactional advice and deal negotiation.
• Tamarin Tosen has experience in mergers and acquisitions, drafting and negotiating commercial contracts, due diligence investigations and general corporate and commercial work.
• Tessmerica Moodley has extensive experience in general corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, listings, corporate finance and due diligence investigations. Her practice includes a strong focus in the corporate real estate sector.
• Roxanna Valayathum specialises in mergers and acquisitions across various sectors and jurisdictions, as well as establishing, structuring and restructuring business entities and due diligence investigations.
• Specialising in constitutional, administrative and regulatory law, Ashley’s experience lies primarily in the public sector and other sectors of the economy that are heavily regulated by the State. He has advised and represented private clients, parastatals and other organs of state across all spheres of government.
• Heinrich Louw has experience in the tax aspects relating to commercial transactions and dispute resolution with SARS. He advises clients in the oil and gas, mining, banking and property sectors.

“These new appointments reflect CDH’s strong ability to attract, retain and develop the best legal talent in the country. This bodes well for future growth prospects and our continuously improving ability to serve our clients’ evolving needs,” concludes CDH’s newly-appointed Chairperson, Thabile Fuhrmann.