The Choice Between Nominee Shareholder and Holding Company

When it is the time to structure a new company, there is always the choice between who the holder of the company’s shares will be. Shareholder is always considered an owner of the company. It can be either a natural person or a company – holding company.

In those caseswhen an offshore company is being registered, beneficial owners normally do not want to see their own names listed in the company documents or on an online Companies Registry. For this purpose, to protect the anonimity of the owner, services of a nominee shareholder are used.

Use of a nominee shareholder is a common solution in order to avoid disclosure of the owner’s identity. However, in many cases the same nominee shareholder holds shares on behalf of several other companies in the same country. If the Companies Registry in the particular country is available for public inspection, anyone can check how may companies are „owned” by such a nominee.

Although nominee shareholder offers anonymity of the shareholder, if he has too many companies and if your customers are watching, this might not be in your favor. It can lead to a situation when your customers or suppliers might just begin to ask questions.

Protect the image of your business

If image is really important to your business, do not choose a nominee shareholder because you will not be able to explain to your clients why Mr. Nominee already owns 300 other companies. In such a case, it would be better to set up a Holding Company to hold the shares.

In this way, on verifying your list of shareholders, customers will find only a mere holding company that holds a single society. The operation is more discreet, simpler.

Price comparison

It would most certainly be less expensive to choose a nominee shareholder. A holding company costs vary from 790 EUR to 1500 EUR, depeneding on the choice of country for the company registration. Even though incorporation of an independent company costs more, ir provides better reputation and quality of the setup.

If you want to hear more information, ICD Fiduciaries is here to answer your questions and assist your business project.