Small Stake, Big Voice

In JVs, minority partners’ ownership stakes do not correlate with their voting rights and broader contractual punch. That is what we found when we looked at 55 JVs with at least one minority partner and reviewed the voting thresholds of 35 common decisions in the contractual agreements. This finding and others from our analysis carry profound implications for how companies negotiate for voting rights in a JV when they own less than 50%.

Minority partners in joint ventures can still negotiate substantial rights to have a say in business decisions.

Read the full article originally published in MIT Sloan Management Review.

About the Authors

Lois Fernandes

Lois D’Costa Fernandes is a Senior Director at Ankura, where she leads the firm’s research and analytics on joint ventures and partnerships. Previously, Lois was a founding employee of Water Street Partners and prior to that was a core member of the Joint Venture Practice at McKinsey & Co. She has authored numerous articles on joint ventures and partnerships, including in MIT Sloan Management Review, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, and the Journal of World Energy Law & Business.

Tracy Branding Pyle

Tracy Branding Pyle is a Managing Director at Ankura who specializes in helping organizations navigate complex transactions, and, in particular, joint venture-related transactions. She works with a wide array of U.S. and international companies across industries to help them structure, negotiate, approve, and launch joint ventures to set these ventures up for success. She additionally advises on governance of individual joint ventures and portfolios of joint ventures to help companies to minimize risk, increase efficiencies, and find value. Prior to joining Ankura, Tracy practiced law at Hogan Lovells, where she advised clients on joint ventures, public and private mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance matters. Tracy is based in Washington, DC.

James Bamford

James Bamford is a Senior Advisor at Ankura based in Washington, DC. He joined Ankura with the firm’s 2020 acquisition of Water Street Partners, which he co-founded in 2008. Water Street Partners has been independently ranked as the number one global advisor on joint ventures since 2017. Prior to Water Street, he was global co-lead of the Joint Venture & Alliance Practice at McKinsey & Company.

Small Stake, Big Voice

Authored By

About the Authors

Lois Fernandes

Tracy Branding Pyle

James Bamford

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