Jean-Eric Sauzier

Jean-Eric Sauzier is a partner at BLC Robert. Distinguished as a “leading lawyer” by IFLR1000, he specialises in Banking, Project Finance and Insolvency. He is also well versed with real estate development, hospitality and information technology.

He is regularly instructed by major banking corporations on domestic and cross-border financing. His work starts as early as providing preliminary advice on the structuring of the line of credit, identifying key legal risks and defining key terms and conditions pertinent to the type of financing at hand. He also provides more traditional support to lenders by preparing their finance, security and disbursement documentation while assisting sophisticated borrowers in the raising of their debt financing and assisting on their drawdowns.

His insolvency work consists primarily of advising banks on their recovery routes as well as providing them with handholding support through administration, receivership and liquidation procedures. In the real estate area, he has been advising promoters on the development and documentation of their products as well as on the financing of their projects. He has also advised banks on how to best protect their interest on real estate financing as well as private client purchasers on their property acquisition and retail financing of same. IT matters cover software and hardware for both the domestic and overseas markets, with a particular accent on solutions for the African market.

Jean-Eric has also been involved in the drafting of various pieces of legislation which served either as foundation for or improvements to the Mauritian information technology, intellectual property and data protection legal and regulatory frameworks. These include the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, the Data Protection Act, the Copyright (Amendment) Act and the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Act.

• Mauritius Bar Association
• Bar of England and Wales
• Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn

• Barrister-at-law (England & Wales and Mauritius)
• Oxford University, St Catherine’s College, Euromoney Summer School on Banking and Finance
• LL.M, International Trade University of Essex, England
• LL.B, University of Essex, England
• Diploma in French Law, Lyon, France

• Recognized as ‘’leading individual’’ by Legal 500 EMEA 2021
• Distinguished as a “Leading Lawyer” by IFLR1000
• Sweet and Maxwell International Arbitration Law Review, 3(3), pp114-121 “From arbitrator’s immunity to the fifth theory of international commercial arbitration” (2000)
• Euromoney Prize for “Outstanding LLM Trade Finance Performance” (2000)
• Sweet & Maxwell Prize for “Best LLB Overall Performance” (1999)
• London Institute of Directors Prize for “Best LLB Company Law Performance” (1999)

Over the last 6 months, the matters in which Jean-Eric has been involved in include the following:

• Currently advising two World Bank financing organisations on their joint mezzanine and debt financing of a cement quarry in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Currently advising a German bank on the financing of a power plant in Mauritius.
• Currently advising a NYSE information technology group on the financing of their assets in Nigeria.
• Currently advising a World Bank entity on the financing of a power plant in Mauritius.
• Currently advising a Finnish fund on the financing of credit bureau operations in Kenya and Tanzania.
• Currently advising a Mauritian bank on the preparation of its green financing documentation for projects in Mauritius
• .Currently advising a South African media group on their joint venture into a pan-African media company.
• Currently advising a Mauritian hospitality promoter on the franchising of a business hotel.
• Advised a French DFI on the provision of EU subsidised green funding to a group of Mauritian banks for onlending to the Mauritian market for the purposes financing of environment friendly projects.
• Currently advising a Mauritian bank on the financing of two solar power projects.
• Advised an oil and gas operator on the setting up and financing of storage facilities in the Mozambican ports of Beira and Matola for the supply of oil and gas to East African jurisdictions.
• Advised an Australian mining group on (i) the financing of its Namibian uranium mining assets and (ii) its a joint venture with a Chinese state owned enterprise for the mining and commercial exploitation of uranium.
• Advised a Mauritian private/public joint venture company on the setting up of a system for the booking of berth slots for vessel refuelling.
• Advised a facility agent and syndicate of Lenders on (i) the negotiation of a hotel management agreement with a renown German hotel management group for and (ii) a syndicated debt refinancing of a Mauritian resort.
• Advised the Mauritian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Mauritian Road Development Authority on the financing of its road infrastructure enhancements as part of the road traffic decongestion program.
• Advised Microsoft Corporation on the terms of release of their next Windows update as a matter of compliance with Mauritian law.