BUSINESS AGREEMENTS

We can assist you with all types of business agreements between business partners:

• partnership agreements – to regulate the relationship between you and your business partners;
• joint ventures - joint ventures are typically formed by way of an agreement between two or more entitites, working together towards a common goal (with pooled resources) whilst maintaining their separate identifies;
• shareholder agreements – to regulate the relationship between you and your fellow shareholders;
• unitholder agreements - to regulate the relationship between you and your fellow unitholders;
• option agreements - to give business partners the option to purchase another business partner's interest at some point in the future
• buy sell agreements - to give business partners the right to buy and/or sell their business interests to the other business partners on the happening of one or more defined events

Preparing business agreements between a number of different parties is usually a 3 stage process:

FIRST STAGE - The parties decide that they wish to enter into a particular agreement together.

SECOND STAGE - The parties agree upon the key aspects of the proposed agreement, such as timing, each party's rights and obligations and any other key terms.  It is often at this point that the parties will enter into an "agreement to agree", subject to preparation of the final documentation.  This is often referred to as a Heads of Agreement, or Memorandum of Understanding.

THIRD STAGE - The parties will instruct their respective lawyers to prepare the required documentation to reflect the agreement.  Typically, one party's lawyer will draft the agreement, then forward it to the other party's lawyer to review and request amendments.  Further issues may be identified by the lawyers that require discussion and negotiation between the parties, with or without the lawyers' involvement.  Once the agreement is negotiated, amended, and in a final form, the parties will arrange to sign it.

We can assist you with other types of business agreements:

• Supply/distributor agreements / terms and conditions - setting out the basis upon which you will be providing your goods and services to your clients and customers, and most importantly, the basis upon which you will be entitled to recover payment for those goods and services.

• Heads of Agreement / Memorandum of Understanding - in the event that you have agreed with the other party to enter into an agreement at some point (usually once a particular condition has been fulfilled), then you can enter into an "agreement to agree".  Such agreement can be specified as binding or non-binding.

• Non-Disclosure Agreements - used to safeguard a business' confidential information.

​We can either draft the agreement, or review and advise you in relation to an agreement that you have been asked to enter into.

Contact the team at Shire Legal if you have any questions or require any assistance.