England and Wales, a quasi-partnership is a legal creation brought about where the court needs to treat several shareholders of a company as mutually bound to each other to a greater extent than would generally be expected of such shareholders under company legislation. Sections 459-461 of the Companies Act 1985, replaced by Part 30 (sections 994-999) of the Companies Act 2006, refer to the objective of protecting company members against "unfair prejudice". Where a company is a quasi-partnership at a time when it is being valued, especially for purposes of winding-up, the courts would expect the valuation to disregard the discount normally applied to a minority shareholding, which reflects the fact that a minority owner does not have the power to direct the affairs of the business. The courts in England and Wales "have repeatedly emphasised that the overriding requirement in quasi-partnership cases is that the price to be paid, where a buy-out order is made, should be fair". See also United Kingdom company law Limited partnerships in England and Wales Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000 Limited Liability Partnerships Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 References Further reading JA McCahery and EPM Vermeulen, ‘Limited Partnership Reform in the United Kingdom: A Competitive, Venture Capital Oriented Business Form’ (2004) 5 European Business Organization Law Review 61 External links UK legislation Law of the United Kingdom English law