Agreements between shareholders, partners, unitholders, or anyone joining forces

Starting or regulating relationships in a business is hard at time. We all want to get along but boundaries, rules and protection from the bad times are important to resolve up front. We do this by preparing and agreement. Whether it is a company, trust, partnership, JV or even a collaboration we can tailor an agreement for your situation.

The starting point is meeting with you and understanding what your business does, what are the relationships and what are people bringing to the table. We will talk with your accountants and other advisors and we take detailed instructions.

The document tells us what is the structure, who owns it, how it is run, what are the voting rights, what are people’s level of authority and also administrative matters for meetings, voting and the like.

These agreements regulate how we can increase or decrease our shares, sell them and what rights people have to bring in other people. We also will be able to regulate borrowing (even from shareholders) controls over expenditure.

Protection of the value of the business and its property is paramount. We will advise on many protective measures such as restraints, confidentiality and protection of IP.

We also will have pre-emptive rights in the agreement to deal with changes which need to be made. Sometimes people leave for bad reasons – these agreements are perfect for dealing with difficult situations and provide a strategic path for valuing the entity.  In other words you greatly limit the potential for lengthy ongoing dispute.

These agreements are a must in any business with a group of owners of any size.