Gordon Schachat
Encyclopedia
Gordon Schachat is a South African businessman and prominent art collector. He is featured regularly on the Sunday Times Rich List.

Personal life

Schachat met his first wife at university, the former Sunday Times columnist Jani Allan
Jani Allan
Jani Allan is a South African columnist and radio commentator. She became a household name as a columnist for the Sunday Times where she worked between 1979-90. She is also known for her alleged affair with an interviewee, the late right-wing political leader Eugène Terre'Blanche...

 and married her in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

 in 1982. She makes an acknowledgement to him in her book Face Value
Face Value (book)
Face Value is a book of collected journalism by South African journalist Jani Allan. The book is compiled from selections of Allan's successful gossip and popular culture column Just Jani that appeared in the Sunday Times. She was voted "the most admired person in South Africa." in a Gallup poll...

. The marriage ended in 1984 and the two remained on friendly terms. In 1992 Schachat supported Allan's testimony in the libel suit she brought against the British broadcaster Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

. He later remarried and had three children with his wife Pamela.

Career

Schachat was recently ranked as the 71st wealthiest person in South Africa in the Sunday Times Rich List.

Schachat has held a number of directorships during his business career. Schachat's early business background was in housing development, serving nine years with the Schachat housing group. Since the 1980s he spent 13 years in private equity and investment banking. This was followed by the establishment of Boabab Solid Growth Ltd, a precursor to the 1998 establishment of African Bank Investments Limited, which Schachat is an original founder and architect of. Schachat currently serves as a director of the company as well as the Executive Deputy Chair.

In 2007 Abil's R10.6 billion all-share offer for Ellerines funrniture giant was approved.

Abil is listed on the JSE and is South Africa's biggest mass-market lender and recently issued a $54.81 million (550 million rand) senior unsecured bond.

Art collection

The Gordon Schachat collection was premiered at the 2009 Joburg Art Fair
Joburg Art Fair
Joburg Art Fair is a contemporary art fair held annually in Johannesburg, South Africa. The first show took place from 13 to 16 March 2008. The second Joburg Art Fair is scheduled for 3 April to 5 April 2009....

. The collection hosted the most prominent piece of the festival Security by Jane Alexander and Tumela Mosaka. Schachat's private art collection includes works by Robin Rhode
Robin Rhode
Robin Rhode is a South African artist, born 1976 in Cape Town, South Africa, now based in Berlin, Germany. In 1998, he obtained a diploma in Fine Art from Technikon Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by a postgraduate program at the South African School of Film, Television and...

. He displayed works by Rhode in the 2008 Joburg Art Fair.

Schachat's collection also includes works by the South African painter Alexis Preller. He is currently sponsoring a forthcoming book by art historian Esme Berman on Preller.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK