Joint Ventures

Joint ventures can take a number of forms including partnerships, limited liability partnerships and contractual arrangements, although the most common involves a joint venture company which owns and controls a business or asset and has two or more parties as the shareholders. The structure that is ultimately chosen must reflect your needs and the long term aims of the business. It may be useful to consider a range of joint venture vehicles before settling on one particular option. For example, introducing a company as the joint venture vehicle may add to the tax cost of the business, compared, say, to using a limited liability partnership structure, whereas using a partnership may discourage some investors. We are able to advise you on which form is appropriate and what the key legal issues are with each.

Tax will often be at the forefront of your mind. You will need to find the balance between an effective structure for running the business on one hand and avoiding increasing the tax cost of the structure on the other.

As part of our service we will consider a number of questions with you, including the following:

What are the parties’ intentions from the outset?
What contribution is each of the parties to the joint venture putting in to the business?
Who will “manage” the joint venture?
What should happen if there is a deadlock?
How do the joint venturers intend to take profits out of the joint venture?
What happens if one party wants to sell?