Joint ventures and reorganisations

Joint ventures

The term 'joint venture' (JV) has no specific legal meaning under UK law. It is essentially a commercial arrangement between two or more parties who agree to pool their resources for the purpose of accomplishing an intended project (or other business activity). The JV vehicle can, for example, take the form of a limited liability company where each party is a shareholder.

The establishment of a JV between two or more sponsoring parties will require the parties to the JV to identify the various pensions issues arising from setting up such a vehicle.

Establishing pension provision for its employees

Pensions issues that arise include:

•
identifying what pension rights existing employees of the JV vehicle already have on the commencement of their employment
•
identifying how the JV vehicle will actually acquire the employees, eg, will they be new hires or will they transfer to the new employer in accordance with the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE)?
•
clarifying what pension provision the JV vehicle is legally obliged to provide its employees. These requirements can vary depending on whether the

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