Joint Ventures: laws and regulations applicable in Spain
Spain: Joint Ventures
Luis García answers Legal 500's Country Comparative Guide Q&A, giving an overview of Spain's joint venture laws and regulations.
1. In what industries or sectors are joint ventures most commonly used in your jurisdiction?
In Spain, JVs are used in a multitude of sectors of activity, in our experience the sector in which they are most frequently used is the public works, infrastructure and construction sector.
2. What are the main types of joint venture in your jurisdiction?
From a regulatory point of view, there are:
(i) “Agrupaciones de Interés Económico” (or “AIE”), which have their own legal personality; and
(ii) “Uniones Temporales de Empresas” (or “UTE”), which do not have separate legal entity.
However, international companies operating in Spain very frequently use unregulated JVs, i.e. a kind of unregulated private consortium without separate legal entity.