How to Show a Dual-Listed Company and a Joint Venture on an Org Chart
Draw a dual-listed group and a jointly controlled asset: put the group on top, join the two listed companies with dotted governance lines, and keep consolidated and shared assets visibly apart.
A dual-listed company is two listed companies run as one group, and a joint venture is an asset shared with a partner; an org chart has to show that neither is a simple parent and child.
The short version
- Put the group at the top when two listed companies operate as one, and hang both companies from it.
- Join each listed company to the group with a dotted line labeled as governance.
- Draw consolidated assets with solid lines and joint ventures with dotted lines, and write the share.
- Attach items that sit outside the reportable segments to the group, not to a product group.
- Leave pending mergers and sales off the chart and describe them in a dated note.
Two listed companies, one group, no parent
Most group charts have one parent at the top. A dual-listed group does not: two separately listed companies, usually in different countries, operate as a single group through contracts and common governance, and neither owns the other. If you draw one as the parent of the other, the chart states a legal position that does not exist.
The same care applies one level down. A mine or plant the group consolidates is part of the group, but a joint venture is shared with a partner and accounted for differently. Both belong on the chart, and the line style has to tell the reader which is which: solid for what the group controls, dotted for what it shares or for a link that is governance rather than reporting.
The chart below is the editable Rio Tinto chart, built from its annual report and half-year report: the group, the two listed companies, three product groups, named operations and the items outside the segments. A second chart, a project governance process, shows why this matters in practice: a jointly controlled asset needs decision rights that the org tree alone cannot show.
Build a dual-listed group chart in five stages
Watch the Rio Tinto chart grow from the group and its two listed companies to product groups, joint ventures and items outside the segments.
Start with the group and its two listed companies
Rio Tinto plc is incorporated in the UK and Rio Tinto Limited in Australia, and since 1995 they have operated as one group with common Boards. Neither owns the other, so the group sits on top and the two companies hang from it with dotted lines labeled as governance.
Add the product groups the group manages by
The management structure runs through three product groups: Aluminium & Lithium, Copper and Iron Ore. They attach to the group with solid lines, because they follow how the group is managed and how its segments are reported, not how its shares are listed.
Add the businesses inside a product group
Aluminium and Lithium sit inside the Aluminium & Lithium product group. One level down is enough to show how a product group is made up, and it lets readers see that the groups differ in how many businesses they hold.
Add the operations and mark the joint venture
Kennecott and Oyu Tolgoi are consolidated and drawn solid, while Escondida is a joint venture and drawn dotted. Pilbara and the Iron Ore Company of Canada sit under Iron Ore. The line style is what tells the reader which assets the group controls and which it shares.
Show what sits outside the segments
The Simandou iron ore project and Other operations hang from the group, not from a product group, because the report keeps them outside the reportable segments. Placing them under a product group would imply a reporting line that does not exist.
Check decision rights against a real process: project governance
A jointly controlled asset needs agreed decision rights as well as an ownership line. Here is a project governance process built in three stages, so you can check that each decision has a body on the chart.
Write the steps and decisions
Start with the first half of the process as plain steps and decisions: authorize the mandate, draft the charter, assign roles, set forums and decision rights, and baseline scope, schedule and cost. For a joint venture this is where the partners agree who decides what, which is a different question from who owns what.
Give each step a role or body from the chart
Give each step a lane for a role in the venture, such as the project sponsor, the change authority or the steering committee. Where a step needs a partner's approval, the lane shows it, and the org chart must show that partner's link as dotted rather than solid.
Complete the process with status, change and escalation
The full process adds status reporting, change control, escalation and stage review. Check that every escalation path ends at a body that appears on the chart, because a decision with no box has no owner.
How it works
Decide which box is on top
If two listed companies run as one group, put the group at the top and the two companies below it. If one company owns the other, use a normal parent line instead.
Draw the listing link as governance
Join each listed company to the group with a dotted line and label it as governance. The link is a contract and a shared Board, not a reporting line.
Add the management structure
Add the product groups or business units the group manages by, joined with solid lines, in the order the company reports them.
Add the assets and mark shared control
Use a solid line for an asset the group consolidates and a dotted line for a joint venture. Write the share on the box when your source gives it.
Put outside-the-segment items where they belong
Attach a project or a set of operations that the report keeps outside its segments to the group itself, so no reader assumes it belongs to a product group.
Name the source and the date
A dual-listed group or a venture changes by agreement and announcement. Write the as-of date and the report the lines come from next to the chart.
Check decision rights against a process
Open a governance process and give each step a lane for a role or body on the chart. Fix gaps in the chart or in the process.
Mistakes to avoid
Showing one listed company as the parent of the other
In a true dual-listed structure neither company owns the other. A parent line misstates the legal position and hides the common Board.
Using one line style for everything
If consolidated assets and joint ventures look the same, readers cannot tell what the group controls. Keep solid and dotted lines for different meanings.
Counting a joint venture as a subsidiary
A venture accounted for by the equity method is not consolidated. Draw it dotted and state the share.
Drawing a pending deal as done
A merger, sale or demerger that has been announced but has not completed does not belong on the chart as a result. Mention it in a dated note and keep the chart on the reported structure.
Editable organizational charts
Create your group structure chart
Open the editable Rio Tinto chart, replace the names with your own group and assets, and change the line style where control is shared.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What is a dual-listed company?
It is two separately listed companies, usually in different countries, that operate as a single group through contracts and common governance, without one owning the other. Rio Tinto plc in the UK and Rio Tinto Limited in Australia are an example.
How do I show a joint venture on an org chart?
Draw it with a dotted line to the partner that reports it, label it as a joint venture and write the share. Use a solid line only for assets the group controls and consolidates.
Should the shareholders appear on the chart?
Only if readers need them. In a dual-listed group the shareholders of both companies share one economic interest, so they are usually described in a note rather than drawn.
Is this an internal reporting chart?
No. It is a view built from public reports. Say so on the chart, date it, and do not use it to assign line management.