Structural joint venture meaning

The mining group that owned and ran the Fundão Dam through a joint venture faced proceedings in England over the 2015 torrent of toxic sludge and mud that devastated communities in Brazil. Judge Finola O’Farrell ruled that BHP bore strict liability for harm to the environment and to third parties arising from the dam’s failure. The structure belonged to Samarco, a joint enterprise between Vale and BHP, and contained mining waste known as tailings. According to the 222-page judgment, BHP ought not to have persisted in raising the dam’s height before the collapse, a measure deemed a direct and immediate cause of the catastrophe. The ruling states the company should have known by 2014 that the dam had structural defects. As Judge O’Farrell observed, it was inconceivable that a decision would have been taken to continue increasing the height in those conditions, and the collapse could have been avoided. The judge held BHP liable both as a polluter under Brazilian environmental law and on the basis of fault under the...

CASE HUB NOTE—appeal lodged before the General Court in Case T- 584/19 ARCHIVED—this case hub reflects the position as at the decision of 11/06/2019 and is no longer maintained. See the timeline. Case facts Outline European Commission merger review of the planned joint venture between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp (Case M.8713). The deal featured horizontal overlaps across several flat steel product markets. Latest developments On 11 June 2019, the Commission blocked the transaction. It found the deal would have weakened competition and driven up prices for multiple steel categories. The package of commitments proposed by the parties did not sufficiently resolve the Commission’s concerns. Parties Tata Steel Limited is an India-headquartered multinational steel producer and part of the Tata Group. In Europe, it is the second-largest steelmaker, operating steelmaking in the Netherlands and the UK, with manufacturing sites across Europe. ThyssenKrupp AG is a Germany-headquartered multinational conglomerate focused on industrial engineering and steel production. Its principal steel production hubs...

Choosing the joint venture vehicle A joint venture is not recognised in English law as a separate legal form. Rather, it is a commercial arrangement in which two or more parties agree to combine resources to deliver a defined project or other business activity. The term spans a wide range of scenarios, from structural solutions that establish or shift economic control of a legal entity—such as joint venture companies or partnerships—to non‑structural approaches, including contractual joint projects and informal, undocumented collaborations. A joint venture may be set up for a single initiative, a set timeframe, or as an ongoing business relationship. Parties considering a joint venture have several structural routes open to them, and the most suitable model will turn on their particular circumstances. Commonly used structures include: Corporate joint venture—creating a separate limited company in which each party holds shares Joint venture partnership—forming a new partnership vehicle Contractual or commercial joint venture—defining all aspects of the joint venture relationship within a contract ...

Businesses commonly rely on joint ventures to break into fresh markets and to design, develop, and launch new products. This notion spans a wide array of scenarios and arrangements, including: structural setups that establish or alter the economic control of a given legal entity: joint venture companies themselves partnerships between participants alterations to existing shareholder control non-structural joint ventures: contract-based joint projects informal (not documented) collaborations For many joint venture arrangements, the extent of 'control' each party holds is often pivotal—though its meaning can be understood differently in varying contexts. This is particularly significant in EU competition law in practice. Accordingly, a joint venture’s treatment under those rules depends on whether it is 'concentrative' (structural) or 'cooperative' (non-structural). Structural joint ventures and merger control Where a joint venture brings about a durable structural shift in the market (ie...