Raise of Capital and Choice of Corporate Form in a Farmer's Perspective.

Niels Hølledig Nørgaard

Student thesis: Master thesis


The Danish agriculture companies are in a situation where financing, for the necessary investment for development and owner change, is getting harder to acquire. This creates a situation where generational change is almost impossible to achieve. The financing of the Danish agriculture primarily comes from mortgage loans and banks loans today. This thesis examines if the legal matters of different ownership models can help the next generation to find the necessary financing for entering the agricultural industry, and at the same time keep the tax benefits of having a private ownership model. It also examines, if new means of alternative financing can make it easier for the next generation to establish themselves. The Danish farmers have the advantage of a business taxation scheme. If the Danish farmer uses the limited company, it opens up the possibility for a limited investor to buy a part of the farm, but the farmer will lose the advantage of the Danish business taxation scheme. This thesis concludes that by using a limited partnership company, the same advantages can be kept for the farmer, and the investor can still be limited to his invested capital and thereby only be liable for the invested capital, if the company goes bankrupt. In conclusion, alternative financing can contribute in making it easier to get the necessary financing for buying a farm and, in many situations, to a lower interest rate then bank loans. Alternative financing can come from many sources, for instance slaughterhouses and animal feed manufactures. The primary financing will most likely still come from mortgage loans, and the farmers have to consider either taking in investors, or take loans in the government owned firm The Danish Growth Fund, who lends risk willing capital, but to a high interest rate. To do so the farmers need to make changes in their ownership models, into a model that makes it possible to take in investors. The limited partnership company seems like the best solution, because it allows the farmer to take in investors with limited shares, and at the same time lets the farmer keep his advantage of the Danish business taxation scheme.

EducationsMSc in Commercial Law, (Graduate Programme) Final Thesis
Publication date2020
Number of pages102