Start-Ups & Joint Ventures

Many of our clients are entrepreneurs and start-ups who have had success and are ready to take the next step. That may entail taking on investment. The founders of the business need to ensure that they balance the protection of their interests with offering a fair deal to the incoming investors.

We are used to drafting, negotiating and amending shareholder's agreements, articles of association and joint venture agreements. We also draft option agreements, growth share provisions and EMI schemes.

In addition to acting for the founders of businesses, we have a number of clients who invest and ask us to undertake due diligence, review the documentation and provide advice. Where it is possible to negotiate the offer, we discuss minority shareholder protections.

Where individuals or corporate entities wish to collaborate on a project whether to expand or open up a new opportunity, a joint venture agreement may be required. As well as containing the important governance arrangements between the parties, the joint venture agreement needs to clearly describe what each party is bringing to the venture, what they expect to get out of it and what will happen in the event of a dispute. In our advice and drafting we aim for comprehensive coverage and precision within a clearly written and easily understood contract.

Our start-up and joint venture clients come from across the sectors commercial real estate, food & beverage, hotels & leisure, retail, education, and faith.

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Although we are a London firm, we are fortunate to have international reach thanks to our long-standing membership of the MSI Global alliance. This provides us with trusted legal and accountancy/tax colleagues in firms across the globe and allows us to partner with them in cross-border work and access high quality advice from other jurisdictions.