Joint Venture Agreement

Our template for a joint venture agreement is designed for use when businesses or individuals are joining together to create a joint venture (or “JV”). Such agreements are also known as:

• shareholders agreements or
• JV agreements.

This template is for use when you are running the joint venture through a UK limited company. This is the most common type of joint venture in the UK.

Why have a Joint Venture Agreement?

A joint venture agreement sets out the duties and rights of each JV party. It is an essential contract to put in place whether you have a start-up or an established company. The JV agreement sets out, among other things:

• how the JV parties will operate the JV company,
• how to resolve a dispute between the JV parties,
• how you would value shares in the JV company, and
• what is to happen if a JV party wants to pull out.

If you are still in any doubt over whether you need a joint venture agreement, please click on this link to our separate blog article that explains the need for one in the context of a shareholders agreement: https://www.legalo.co.uk/blog/5-reasons-business-needs-shareholders-agreement/.

The template is straightforward for you to complete. It comes with detailed guidance notes, to lead you through all the clauses of the agreement. You can view an abbreviated version of the guidance notes here for our template shareholders agreement.

If you put in place a written contract between the JV parties it will be a huge assistance to the smooth running of the JV company and in nearly all cases avoid the need to use expensive lawyers if anything goes wrong later, e.g. the parties falling out.

What is in Legalo’s JV agreement template?

The download includes 2 different versions (each with its own guide), so you can be sure of obtaining the right version for you:

1. a template for companies with just 2 shareholders; and
2. a template for companies with more than 2 shareholders.

While many of our templates are not suitable for use in Scotland, this one is, so you can use it for a Scottish company. It also works for companies registered in England and Wales, of course.

How To Produce Your Own Joint Venture Agreement

David, our co-founder and experienced commercial lawyer, has drafted many of these agreements for past clients. He now brings his experience to bear in creating a great legal template for you. At 14 pages in length, this agreement provides robust protection for all JV parties, whilst remaining clear and simple to complete.

You can download this JV agreement template in Word format and then edit it to suit your requirements quickly and simply.

The guidance notes, that are included with the joint venture agreement, lead you through each clause in the agreement. With the help of the guide, you should only need a couple of hours to adapt the template for your agreement.

We also have an article on our blog on setting up a joint venture legally and some of the other things you need to consider. We hope you find it helpful. For more general information about joint ventures, have a look at Wikipedia.