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UK Companies with Bearer Shares

Bearer Shares are not the same as stock certificates. Usually, the legal shareholders of a limited company are those persons whose names appear on the corporation’s official shareholders list, or register. These shareholders may or may not be issued a tangible stock certificate which they may possess. A common stock certificate will bear the name of the shareholder, and how many shares of stock the certificate represents. It will contain other information such as the name of the company, any par value the shares have, and most importantly, whether there are restrictions on the transfer of the shares. In addition to incorporating an ordinary company limited by shares we can provide formation & management of companies with bearer shares! Bearer shares can be converted into registered shares and vice versa.

A common stock certificate will bear the name of the shareholder, and how many shares of stock the certificate represents. It will contain other information such as the name of the company, any par value the shares have, and most importantly, whether there are restrictions on the transfer of the shares.

Many UK residents have never heard of bearer shares. The trick behind Bearer Shares, however, is that they must be issued properly by a qualified and knowledgeable corporate director. As long as you do not have them in your possession at the time you are questioned, you can legally and truthfully say under oath, “I am not the owner of that corporation.” It’s always recommended that people keep their bearer shares.

This way, if your nominee officer is ever questioned about your corporation, he can say the same thing: “Bearer shares were issued, I don’t know who owns the company, and I can prove it.”

In contrast to ordinary stock certificates, bearer shares do not list the name of a shareholder. Instead, they state that shares of stock in the corporation are owned by the “bearer” of the certificate. Therefore, whoever has physical possession of the certificate can exercise the rights of a shareholder of the company. The advantage of bearer shares is privacy and ease of transfer. A company with only bearer shares has no shareholders list or register.

Therefore it is impossible to know for certain who the shareholders of the company are. Because a transfer of the shares can be made by simply handing them to another person, bearer shares can be transferred more easily than non-bearer shares.

How Bearer Shares are Suppose to Work:

Normally, when you fill out the back of a stock certificate, you must print the name or the company name of who owns that stock. Then you must record in the stock ledger the shareholder, address, date, number of shares, and if it was an original issue or a transfer. Obviously whomever the stock is issued to is the owner of the company. If it is to the bearer, then whoever holds that certificate, at a particular moment, will thereby be considered the owner of the company.