Definition: Equity stakes

Category: National accounts

Such arrangements involve the creation of a new unit (a “joint-venture”) in which both government and non-government partners have equity stakes in a company managing a given infrastructure. ESA95 rules, as supplemented by the Manual on government deficit and
debt, give quite explicit provisions, notably as regards the treatment of flows between government and this unit. A “pure” joint-venture with a strict equality in equity stakes should normally be considered as a public corporation if government is assumed to exercise a
control over the general policy of the unit, which is generally the case. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/KS-BE-04-004-EN.pdf