A stakeholder is commonly known as a person with an interest or
concern in something. In the recent case of Gobi Holdings Limited v
Fairbridge Arderne and Lawton Incorporated t/a Fairbridges Wertheim
Becker and Another,1 a thorough understanding of a
stakeholder is critical.
According to case law, a stakeholder has two meanings. The first
meaning refers to someone who has an interest in an issue. In
Baker v Probert2 it was extended to entail a
position where an independent party holds a stake on behalf of two
interested parties. Secondly, its obligation was to keep the
transaction documents 'in trust' on behalf of both
transacting parties and no more. As a custodian, that obligation
only arose after closing, once it received the transaction
documents, and not before.
