The name to be chosen for the company should not be similar to any other name already registered and words such as king, queen, corporation cannot be accepted. When applying to the Registrar of Companies for approval of the name it is advisable to give a choice of more than one name thus enabling the Registrar to have some flexibility.
Memorandum and Articles of Association
Every Cyprus limited liability company must have at least a Memorandum
and Articles of Association, which specify the activities in which the
company may engage. This will be appropriately drafted upon supply of
information connected with the activities of the company.
Share capital
There is no legal requirement as to the minimum or maximum share
capital of the company. However the Central Bank of Cyprus recommends
that the authorized share capital should be at least CY£10.000,
which may conveniently be divided into 10 000 shares of CY£l each.
Not all of these shares have to be subscribed for, but at least CY£1.000
must be issued and fully paid up upon incorporation, in order to comply
with the requirements of the Central Bank. If
the company wishes to take advantage of the duty free allowances outlined
above, then its issued paid up share capital must be at least CY£10.000.
Shareholders
Under Cyprus law there is no restriction as to the number of
shareholders a company may have, for example, a company with only one
shareholder is allowed. The following information is needed for each shareholder:
• full name
• residential address, telephone and fax numbers
• nationality
• occupation
• number of shares to be held
• copies of passports/identity cards
The following additional information is needed to corporate shareholders:
• most recent financial statements, and
• name, address, telephone and fax numbers or professional adviser
for reference if necessary.
Bank references
It should be noted that, in order to maintain the business propriety
of offshore activities, the Central Bank of Cyprus requires bankers' references
for the beneficial shareholders, whether or not these are to be publicly
known. In this respect, bankers' telex or fax to the Central Bank of Cyprus
as shown below is adequate.
Quote
Fax no (357) 02-378153 OR
Telex no 2424 Central Cy
The Senior Manager
International Division
Central Bank of Cyprus
NICOSIA
At the request of ......................., we hereby confirm that (give the names of the beneficial owners) are well known to us for ... years and are, in our opinion, of good financial standing and trustworthy persons in their business obligations.
This is given without any risk, responsibility or any engagement on our
part.
(Sgd) ...................
Unquote
Directors
The following information is needed for each director:
• full name
• nationality
• residential address
• Occupation
Secretary
The company, by law, must have a secretary and in this respect
our firm can provide the services of one of their secretarial companies.
Registered address
It is also a requirement of the law that a company must have
a registered office in Cyprus, which may be used as the business address
of the company. Such an address can also be provided by our firm.
Period needed to register a company
The formation and registration of the company can be completed within
a maximum period of two weeks.
Bankers, currency and signatories
The company may open bank accounts with any bank in most of the
main currencies and money transfers can be effected without foreign exchange
restrictions. Bank signatories can be provided locally, if necessary,
at no cost.
Documents to be provided to owners
On registration of the company, the owners will be supplied with
full documentation, properly legalized and translated into English comprising
of:
• The certificate of registration
• A copy of the memorandum and articles of association
• A list of directors, secretary and shareholders
• The address of the company's registered office
• Share certificate(s)
• Any other information concerning the company's activities up to
the date of its establishment.
Day-to-day management o the company
Our firm is capable of dealing with all the day-to-day activities
of any offshore company, such as payroll preparation, cash disbursements
and receipts, re-invoicing, and other accounting and business administration.
To enable this, we use highly trained staff working on internally installed
modern computers working with highly sophisticated computer software.