Abstract
Groups of companies have become a reality in our modern day economy. Companies often
organise themselves into groups with the view of allocating capital in a manner that reduces
the risks particular assets are exposed to, i.e risk diversification. Despite the fact that
companies in a group often have their affairs and functions aligned, courts have developed
the time-honoured principles of separate legal personality in deciding that each company in a
corporate group is a separate legal entity with a separate legal personality together with
rights, obligations, duties and liabilities distinct from those of the other group members. It is
evident from the consideration of different jurisprudence that the courts' readiness to pierce
the corporate veil varies quite considerably depending on the facts of each case; and as such it
is difficult to categorise the principles premised on finitely determinable standards.
LL.M. (Commercial Law)