Offshore holding companies have, for some time, been used to structure equity and debt investments throughout the world. This article focuses on the use of British Virgin Island (BVI) business companies in joint venture transactions.
In particular, the BVI business company is a vehicle that is increasingly being used in Russia and throughout central and east Asia. There have long been ties between the BVI and Hong Kong in terms of the use of BVI companies for property and other investments and this relationship is now spreading towards investments in mainland China. Indeed, Chinese Government statistics show that the BVI is, somewhat remarkably, the second-largest investor into China. Determined not to be left out, investments in South America, Chile and Brazil in particular are increasingly turning towards the BVI as the provider of investment vehicles. As a result many of the large real estate developments and natural resource-focused projects around the world now use one or more BVI business companies within their corporate structures.
