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2. True-Brown Partnerships
Dave True and Doug Brown jointly pursued other business
ventures (collectively, True-Brown partnerships). Among them was
True & Brown Drilling Co., a partnership formed in 1951 that
engaged in contract drilling and also acquired working interests
in oil and gas properties. Dave True worked long hours in the
field on the drilling rigs, while Doug Brown worked regular hours
in the Casper office. Dave True came to believe that he was
contributing more than 50 percent of the efforts required to run
the company. In 1954, Dave True offered to sell his interest, or
to buy Doug Brown’s interest, at a stated price. Doug Brown
chose to sell his interests in all the True-Brown partnerships,
and Dave True financed his purchase through an oil payment (bank
loan payable out of oil production).5
These experiences influenced Dave True’s business philosophy
and generated his interest in using buy-sell agreements. Dave
True decided that he never again would incur outside debt to
finance acquisitions and that he would allow only family members
to be his partners in future business ventures.
5Other than intimations that the purchases and sales of the
outsiders’ interests in Reserve Drilling and the True-Brown
partnerships were at arm’s length, there is no indication in the
record how the purchase prices in these transactions were
established. See infra pp. 16-17 with respect to purchases-
redemptions of outside shareholders’ interests in Belle Fourche
Pipeline Co.
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