Problem
Francis and George have a partnership. They have been farming together for 20 years. An outside investor has approached them and wants to help them expand their acreage, farm yard, storage, equipment, and marketing capabilities. They currently operate 10,000 acres and the 5-year plan is to go to 40,000 acres. The outside investor is an offshore corporation named China Overseas Land Development (COLD). Their first proposal was to buy the whole farm and have Francis and George run it. Francis and George are more comfortable with retaining majority ownership of their land. George also owns a trucking company, it will not be part of the farm operation but may be contracted for service. Francis owns a seed cleaning operation. It could be folded into the farm operation with the outside investor. Both see themselves "Farming for another 20 years". They each have children interested in working on the farm in the future.
In your opinion, what is the best ownership structure for this farm, for Francis, George, and COLD? What should Francis do to plan for the future? What should George do to plan for the future?