Where a majority shareholder sells its shares to a third party, the minority partner must either (a) be part of the transaction and sell its shares to the same third-party buyer on similar terms, or (b) acquire the majority partner`s shares on similar terms. The advantage for the majority owner is that he cannot be forced to stay in business simply because a minority shareholder does not want to sell. When a fair offer is made for the purchase of the business, the majority owner can benefit from that offer, even if it goes against the wishes of a minority partner. A partnership agreement establishes policies and rules that counterparties must comply with in order to avoid disputes or problems in the future. In principle, a partnership agreement will be put in place to deal with any possible situation that could lead to confusion, disagreement or change. Here are some of the main reasons why a company should have a partnership agreement: “Partnership agreements need to be well crafted for a lot of reasons,” said Laurie Tannous, owner of tannous & Associates Inc. . . .