ASSOCIATE COMPANY

A corporation whose parent company holds only a minority stake at the corporation's ownership. An associate company is partially owned by a group of companies or another company. The parent companies or company do not consolidate with the financial statements of the associate company. The parent company usually owns 20-50% of the voting shares; if in case the shares owned by the parent company exceeds 50%, it creates a subsidiary ( wherein the parent company consolidates the financial statements). Normally, the parent company records the value of the associate company as an assets in its balance sheet. Also referred as Associate.