Professional Bio:

Nastascha Harduth is a Director and has been with Werksmans since 2008. She was admitted in 2010, and has been a director within the firm’s Insolvency, Business Rescue and Restructuring practice since 2014.  Her interest lies in complex restructuring and insolvency mandates, especially where cross border considerations are at play, but she has wide ranging experience in corporate and commercial dispute resolution, litigation, and debt recoveries. Nastascha often advises boards and creditors on the duties and responsibilities of directors, when directors are at risk of incurring personal liability, and how to mitigate it.

Her experience extends well beyond the South African jurisdiction, and includes cross-border experience in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Mauritius, and Seychelles.

Nastascha Harduth regularly writes for various publications and contributes to the media. She is a member of the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (SARIPA) and is a fellow of INSOL International, where she is extensively involved.  Nastascha is also the inaugural Chair of the (International Women in Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC) Southern Africa Network.

Nastascha has worked on a number of significant matters, where she advised:

• the board and then the business rescue practitioners of Comair Limited, an aviation company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and flying under British Airways and kulula.com livery, in its business rescue (which included recognition under Chapter 15 of US Bankruptcy Code) and provisional liquidation, and for the joint provisional liquidators in respect of the US proceedings
• Steinhoff International Holdings N.V., a company incorporated in the Netherlands and listed on Frankfurt Stock Exchange, whilst under Dutch Suspension of Payments Procedure, in the liquidation proceedings brought against it in South Africa by Tekkie Town
• the board and then business rescue practitioners of Group Five Limited, a construction company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, in its business rescue.
• the consortium of lenders in the 2018/2019 restructuring of Edcon Limited, being one of South Africa's largest retailers at the time.
• the board and then the business rescue practitioners of Basil Read Limited, a construction company that was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, in its business rescue.
• a major US-based energy company, SunEdision, in the winding up of its local subsidiaries.
• Nedbank as a major creditor in the business rescue of Stuttafords International Fashion Company, being one of South Africa's oldest retailers at the time.
• the board of Hernic Ferrochrome, at the time one of the world’s largest integrated ferrochrome producers situated in South Africa's North West Province, in its business rescue proceedings.
• Fortress HR Solutions as major creditor in the business rescue proceedings of Steval Engineering.
• Tata, a global company in cross border insolvency proceedings, where the insolvent estate in Seychelles sought to compromise our client's claims in circumstances where the relationship between our client and the insolvent was regulated by Indian law.
• Steel Studio International, and its American subsidiary, on a damages claim and bankruptcy proceedings in two different jurisdictions within the United States of America
• the directors of Metalmin Metals and Minerals, in successfully applying for its winding-up in Mauritius, where it was registered and traded, and in the  insolvency enquiry that was held in South Africa
• Investec Bank in respect of the reported judgement of Rees and Another v Investec Bank Limited (330/13) [2014] ZASCA38;2014 (4) SA220 (SCA)