Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances
Joint ventures and strategic alliances can be smart alternatives to traditional mergers and acquisitions. A company can take advantage of a joint venture to expand into new markets, fund research and development, and market new or existing products. These ongoing relationships provide the partners with access to additional resources such as technology, management, brands, distribution systems and customers. Additionally, by sharing risks and costs, a company is able to pursue multiple opportunities, thereby enhancing its likelihood of overall financial success.
As joint ventures and strategic alliances have continued to grow in prevalence, so too has MLA's depth of experience in this area. Our accomplished team of joint venture attorneys provides informed counsel to companies across a range of industries. The cornerstone of our approach is to be flexible and responsive.
We listen to our clients so that we understand their business objectives, timing requirements, risk/return calculus and related business concerns. We couple our understanding of the client's particular business objectives, with our in-depth experience in tax, corporate responsibility, securities, regulatory, intellectual property, employee benefits, international trade and other substantive legal areas.
The MLA team of attorneys and professionals provides clients with joint venture arrangements that anticipate potential hurdles, and address them before they become obstacles. Our ability to foresee problems derives from our substantial experience handling key issues that arise in joint ventures:
- Changes in corporate control
- Addition or removal of parties
- Dispute-resolution mechanisms
- Buy/sell and other exit strategies
- Day-to-day and long-term governance and management problems
- Non-competition and exclusivity concerns
- The dynamics of a fluid business environment
The breadth of our work in this area enables us to counsel clients from a unique vantage point. Not only do we bring substantial involvement with the structuring and negotiation of joint ventures, but also with the unwinding of such transactions. Given this range of experience with complex joint venture relationships, we know how to address the possibility that joint venture partners may not always be "friends" whose interests perfectly align.