Underwood Continues to Grow the Panhandle's European Dairy Connection

Monday, November 20, 2006
Contributed by: Alan Rhodes and D. Lynn Tate

As a continuing part of Underwood's and Amarillo National Bank's support of the dairy industry in the Texas Panhandle and Southwest Kansas, Wade Porter, Cory Ramsey, Lynn Tate and Alan Rhodes participated in a development tour to The Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark during the week of October 30, 2006. Mr. Porter is an Amarillo National Bank executive vice president; Mr. Ramsey is an Amarillo National Bank vice president; Lynn Tate and Alan Rhodes are shareholders in the Underwood Law Firm.

This was the second such tour this year; a similar group visited The Netherlands in March 2006. Underwood and Amarillo National Bank are working to enhance their respective relationships in these countries. They hope to better position themselves to provide legal representation, develop opportunities, facilitate transactions, and make loans to dairy farmers who are relocating to or investing in our trade area.

On October 30, 2006 Alan Rhodes, Wade Porter, and Bart Wagenvoort met with Jos van der Laak of Mazars Paardekooper Hoffman N.V. Mr. van der Laak is a tax lawyer. He advises clients on tax matters that are present when a dairy farmer is moving from one country to another. The international tax planning is similar to planning for a 1031 exchange and is important because of a potential 52% tax in Holland. Lynn Tate and Cory Ramsey met with Hans Peters and Frank Helming, the principals in Q and Q Farming B.V. Underwood and ANB have observed Q and Q Farming and its associate, Teun Sleurink, participate in the introduction of farmers who are now active in Deaf Smith and Castro Counties, Texas and Gray County, Kansas.

On October 31st Kars Fielmich, an employee of Mr. Wagenvoort, joined the group as they visited the offices of For Farmers, a cooperative with an equity position of $167,000,000 (of which $40,000,000 is in cash). After a presentation from Theo Shennink, its marketing director, the group toured the cooperative's feedmill.

Later the group traveled to Hamburg, Germany for a dinner meeting with farmers and affiliates who have recently made a significant investment in our trade area.

On November 1st Wade Porter and Alan Rhodes met with Chresten Andersen and John K. Sorenson of BG Bank. This meeting, one of two involving Danish banks, was important because of the issues faced when trying to collateralize a United States loan with a foreign asset.

On November 2nd Lynn Tate and Wade Porter met with Torben Voss and Mogens Olesen, lawyers with the Advodan firm in Aalborg, Denmark. This firm has provided help to Mr. Wagenvoort as he has represented farmers relocating to Denmark from The Netherlands and Germany.

Wade Porter also met with Leif Orsnaes Christensen and Henning Jensen with Spar Nord Bank in Loegstoer, Denmark. This bank has assisted dairy farmers with interest rate management in currency exchanges.


The Wagenvoort children in their new ANB and Underwood caps.

This column is published for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to create an attorney client relationship. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author's law firm or its individual partners.