Joint Ventures & Strategic Alliances

Joint ventures can be a path to possibility, paving the way to enter new markets and launch major projects. We help clients uncover strategic advantages and minimize risk in every relevant area, including intellectual property, tax, environmental and antitrust. We believe that it is essential to have legal counsel with the skills to capitalize on synergistic partnership opportunities.

Bringing an entrepreneurial mindset and a collaborative spirit to each matter, our global team advises on joint ventures throughout their life cycle. We assist from formation through the intricacies of financing to divestiture, leveraging deep experience to identify and address potential pitfalls early in the deal cycle and give our clients an edge in negotiations.

We’ve structured joint ventures in a range of industries, including traditional energy, renewable energy, telecommunications, retail and health care, among others.

Lawyers from an array of practices work closely to assemble high-value, award-winning joint ventures:

Our corporate team works closely with our tax group to select the most advantageous entity structure and fine-tune tax allocation and distribution provisions in line with the specifics of the arrangement.
Our intellectual property group regularly drafts the licensing and collaboration agreements that form the backbone of strategic alliances.
Our global antitrust team evaluates regulatory hurdles related to competition laws, and our international trade and anticorruption teams analyze and mitigate potential hazards in joint venture deals.

Gaining market entry—especially in emerging markets—requires an understanding of the challenges unique to a jurisdiction. Through decades of experience, we’ve acquired deep knowledge of cultural sensitivities and local ownership requirements, working effectively across disciplines and borders.

Representative Matters

Counseled Schlumberger New Energy, a new SLB business focused on low-carbon and carbon-neutral energy technologies, in its joint venture with Chevron Corporation, Microsoft and Clean Energy Systems to develop a ground-breaking bioenergy with carbon capture and sequestration project designed to produce carbon negative power in Mendota, California and qualify for the Section 45Q tax credit.
Represented Excelsior Energy Capital in the formation of a joint venture (JV) with an approximately $400 million equity commitment to acquire construction-ready battery energy storage projects from a battery energy storage developer’s development pipeline within the ERCOT territory.
Advised Double Eagle Energy in its strategic partnership with EnCap Investments, L.P. to form Double Eagle Energy Holdings IV and another new investment vehicle, oil & gas investment entities with over $1.7 billion of equity committed.
Advised Intrum AB, one of Europe’s largest non-performing loan servicers, on its agreement to sell a significant portion of its investment portfolio to affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management L.P. in a JV deal worth over €1 billion. In this deal, Cerberus will hold a 65% stake and Intrum will retain a 35% stake.
Counseled Rattler Midstream LP in its JV OMOG JV LLC with a subsidiary of Plains Oryx Permian Basin LLC, a JV between Plains All American and Oryx Midstream, a portfolio company of Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.
Advised a private equity firm in connection with a JV with an American multinational company to invest in and develop data centers in Africa, and in connection with a JV to establish an Egyptian real estate fund.
Represented Talos Energy, which through its Talos Low Carbon Solutions division, formed a JV with Carbonvert Inc. and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. to develop the Bayou Bend CCS offshore carbon capture and sequestration hub.
Counseled Bain Capital Credit LP on an aviation lending JV with Griffin Global Asset Management and in an equity investment for the launch of Legacy Corporate Lending, a new asset-based lending company focused on supporting middle market companies across North America.
Advised Olin Corporation on its global JV with Mitsui & Co. Ltd. to form Blue Water Alliance, an independent global trader of electrochemical units-based derivatives, initially focused on globally traded caustic soda and ethylene dichloride.
Advising a Middle East sovereign wealth fund on the establishment of a strategic joint venture, with a leading investment company, to invest up to $1.5 billion.

Advised Diamondback Energy in the formation of the Deep Blue Midland Basin JV entity with Five Point Energy. This strategic JV created the largest independent water infrastructure platform in the Midland Basin with substantial excess capacity to pursue growth opportunities.
Counseled an integrated energy company on the establishment and structuring of a JV investment platform with other global investment firms for the development of lithium-related projects in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
Advised an institutional investor in its anchor commitment to a business development company (BDC) formed as part of a strategic partnership between two leading financial institutions. The BDC will focus on making senior secured loans.
Counseled Enterprise Products Partners in several strategic transactions, including its JVs with Apache Corporation to own the Shin Oak liquids pipeline, with Energy Transfer Partners to resume service on the Old Ocean natural gas pipeline, and with Western Gas Partners LP to build and operate a fractionation facility on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Represented Lido Advisors in its strategic partnership and JV with IDB Bank, the largest Israeli bank operating in the U.S., to create IDB Lido Wealth.
Advised a global sovereign investor in the formation of a JV with an alternative investment manager to invest in global credit secondaries opportunities.
Counseled a leading Bahrain investment group in a series of JV arrangements, acquisitions and related financings (in compliance with principles of Islamic finance) involving a portfolio of seven logistics centers across the U.S., with an aggregate purchase price totaling approximately $375 million.