S.A. (corporation)
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The abbreviation S.A. or SATemplate:Efn designates a type of limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance language as their official language and operate a derivative of the 1804, Napoleonic, civil law.[1] Originally, shareholders could be anonymous and collect dividends by surrendering coupons attached to their share certificates. Dividends were paid to whomever held the certificate. Since share certificates could be transferred privately, corporate management would not necessarily know who owned its shares – nor did anyone but the holders.
As with bearer bonds, anonymous unregistered share ownership and dividend collection enabled money laundering, tax evasion, and concealed business transactions in general, so governments passed laws to audit the practice. Nowadays, shareholders of S.A.s are not anonymous, though shares can still be held by a holding company to obscure the beneficiary.
Variations
Abbreviation
S.A. can be an abbreviation of:
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Galician and European Portuguese (used in Portugal, Timor Leste, Macao, and Lusophone Africa)
- Equivalent as Script error: No such module "Lang". in Chinese for Macau[2]
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Brazilian Portuguese (used in Brazil)
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Asturian and Leonese
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Catalan
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in French (as used in French-speaking countries such as France (including French Polynesia, and New Caledonia) and Monaco; also in partially Francophone countries and/or nations with French as one of their official languages like Belgium (where it is equivalent to a Script error: No such module "Lang".), Luxembourg (also identifiable in Luxembourgish as Script error: No such module "Lang".), Switzerland (where it is equivalent to an Script error: No such module "Lang". or a Script error: No such module "Lang".), as well as Haiti, Lebanon, and such African countries as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco,[3] Mauritania, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Algeria)
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Canadian French
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Swiss Italian (in Italy replaced by Script error: No such module "Lang"., S.p.A., since 1942)
- Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". in Spanish
- Mexican law also takes into account the variability of the corporate stock, resulting in most S.A. turning into Script error: No such module "Lang". (S.A. de C.V.), or Script error: No such module "Lang". (S.A.B. de C.V.) for publicly traded companies.
- Mexico also has Script error: No such module "Lang"., which is analogous to the limited liability company.
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Polish
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Romanian
"SA" has been incorporated into the names of some companies derived from acronyms,such as Cepsa, originally Script error: No such module "Lang"., "Spanish petroleum company, S.A.",[4] and Sabena, originally Script error: No such module "Lang"., "Belgian S.A. of exploitation of air navigation".
Literal meaning
It is equivalent in literal meaning and function to:
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (N.V.) in Dutch
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (P.T. Tbk.) in Indonesia
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Bhd.) in Malaysia
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (A.Ş.) or Anonim Ortaklık (A.O.) in Turkish
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (C.A.) in Ecuador
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (C.A.) in Venezuela
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang"., A.E.) in Greek is usually translated into S.A. in English and foreign languages.
Function
It is equivalent in function to:
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Albanian
- Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Literal translation) in Arabic
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (d.d.) in Croatian and Bosnian
- Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang". (АД) in Bulgarian
- Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang". (АД) in Macedonian
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (a.s.) in Czech
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (A/S) in Danish
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (S.A.E.) or Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Literal translation, abbreviated Script error: No such module "Lang".) in Egypt
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Oy) in Finnish
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (AS) in Estonian
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (AG) in German[5]
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Rt) in Hungarian
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (Hf) in Icelandic
- Private Limited (Pvt. Ltd.) in India and Pakistan
- Public limited company (plc) in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and several Commonwealth countries
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (K.K.) or Script error: No such module "Lang". in Japan
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (J) or Script error: No such module "Lang". in KoreaTemplate:Clarify
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Laos
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (AB) in Lithuanian
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (AS) in Latvian
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (AS) in Norwegian
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (SA) in Polish
- Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang". (AO) in Russian
- Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang". (d.d.), or Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang". (a.d.) in Serbian
- Private Limited (Pte. Ltd.) in Singapore
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (a.s.) in Slovak
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (d.d.) in SloveneScript error: No such module "Unsubst".
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (AB) in Swedish
- Incorporated in the Philippines (formerly used Spanish S.A., corporate structures were Americanized during the US colonial period)[6]
- Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang". (AT) in Ukrainian
- Publicly traded company ("public company") or Incorporated (Inc.) in the United States, though the former term does not appear in the names of business entities
- Script error: No such module "Lang". (C.A.) in Andorra
- Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". (S.A.C.; Template:Literal translation) in Cambodia
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Vietnam
- Script error: No such module "Lang". in Chinese[2]
See also
References
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