General Discussion Topics, page-102089

Hi Loot,

I've given an answer to this a few times (possibly only in PLL forum though). The short answer is you (and you are not alone) are confusing the equity ownership of an asset with the Joint Venture agreement or operating agreement. This is very common. A minority owner, in a properly well thought out and structured JV would have it minority interests protected.

I will use an example of a JV with 3 equity owners. Comp-A owns 45% , Comp-B owns 35% and Comp-C owns 20%. At the very least, the JV would have something along the lines of JV decisions require a minimum 65% agreement. In this way the 2 minority owners on their own cannot ride roughshod over the major equity owner as they total only 60% which is less than 65% required. Comp-A cannot on its own unilaterally make decisions - it requires one of the other partners to agree to get to 65%.

I'm not saying that's whats in play here, but if you ever invested in companies that rely on JVs (so specifically I'm talking Oil & Gas) this is common.

So IMO, there is no "putting their foot down" clause.