Following up from my previous thoughts on why we, as investors, should care about Shareholding statistics of your vested company (which is upstream), it is important also to know the level of ownership your vested company has in other companies (which is downstream). The main objective to investment in other companies is to derive positive dollar revenue. If the downstream (ownership of) companies are not doing well, this would otherwise affect the overall revenue generated by the parent company — which would be highlighted in the annual report. In the process of doing so, you probably have to understand the difference between Subsidiaries, Associates/Affiliates and Joint Ventures.

Subsidiaries

Subsidiary is an entity controlled by another entity. Control is attained by owning a majority stake; shareholding percentage or voting rights > 50%. A wholly-owned subsidiary is one which is 100% owned by the parent entity. If the business fails, in the case of a wholly owned subsidiary,...