To Queen Phillipa the Fourth,
We, the undersigned Sharks & Loans, agree to transfer 2 guineas to the undersigned company,Blue Fish Enterprises , for the purpose of buying shares in the ship "Sandman".
The profits of the shares bought will belong to Shark & Loans until the debt has been repaid, while Y retains voting control. Y can extinguish the debt at any time, up to the maximum term of 6 months, at which points the ownership of the shares is forfeit and they will be permanently transfered to Sharks & Loans. In case the debt is repaid during a trip, The cargo upon arrival will be split according to the elapsed time in the voyage when the loan was terminated. Alternatively, the debtor may freely choose to instead pay an equivalent quantity of money using the market price at the time. For example, if the loan is terminated at half a voyage, half the cargo brought back will belong to Shark&Loans.
Signed:
-Shark&Loans
-
Just to be clear: this means that you buy the shares and their voting control, but until you give me back the principal, all profits from those shares belong to me as interest. If you don't repay by the end of the term, you cede ownership. This has a few advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantage is that you are paying a far higher interest. Advantage is that, at worst, it is like you had never bought them since you paid no principal, no interested and collected no money. Plus, if the ship sinks the only collateral I can get is the shares of the ship rather than other assets.
In effect, it is like I was buying the shares and giving you the option to buy them from me within a given time.
(so, I guess we are introducing options to the game)