Business partner (9)
I believe the answer is:
associate
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">business partner</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is all the clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for associate that I've seen before include "Join" , "Make a logical or causal connection" , "Link" , "Consort" , "Not having full status" .)