Other Incorporation Services

While our core offerings are the four primary private limited liability entity incorporations, Europe Incorporations will incorporate other entities according to our clients’ needs.

S.A. (“Société Anonyme”)

The SA is France’s public limited company – the equivalent of the US’ “Inc.” or the UK’s “PLC.” This is for large, publicly traded corporations. There is also the option, exercised by many smaller companies, to incorporate a simple non-trading SA for its corporate advantages and flexibility to issue an initial public offering (IPO) at a later stage.

Incorporating an SA is more complex. It requires a minimum of two shareholders – seven if its stocks are publicly traded. It is managed by a board of directors with three to eighteen members or by an executive committee with a maximum of five members, with a supervisory board of three to eighteen. A chartered accounting firm must also be named to audit the books annually.

Branch Office (“Succursale)

As a branch office is an extension of its parent company, it is not a separate legal entity from its parent company. Foreign shareholders own the majority control, and the parent company assumes all the branch obligations, including its debts. As such, there is no requirement for minimum share capital to set up a branch office.

Representative Office (“Bureau de Représentation”)

A representative office is an extension of a foreign parent company that establishes a presence in France to conduct market research, promotional activities, or other non-transactional operations. It cannot actively trade/conduct any sales activity and is only a contact point to introduce potential clients to the foreign parent company’s products and services and to familiarize the foreign parent with the local market through this office.

As an extension of a foreign parent company with full liability over its activities, the representative office is registered with the local Companies Formalities Center (CFE) for its tax identification number to open a bank account and track VAT.