If you've got an important contract in the works, you might need a company registration number in order to enter into it. In this case, a ready made company is the best option, as it may take time to get a company number for a brand new company that has just been registered.

Purchasing a ready made company, you can use the pre-registered company number to complete the contract while the company share transfer is being completed.

Shelf Company in Austria purchase

Another reason to purchase a ready made company is to take advantage of the age of registration. A company which has been registered for months or even years may be preferable for a number of reasons.

A good example is when bidding for big contracts, especially with local authorities – some of these require a business to have been registered or established for a number of years before they can bid on the contract. This can present a difficulty for brand new companies, but purchasing a ready made company allows you to get around this problem.

Investing in Austria can be done by setting up a brand new company, or by purchasing a shelf company. A shelf company is a business entity with no activity, that has been registered some time ago, a factor that determines its price. The longer a company has been "on the shelf" the more it costs. Buying such a company, rather then setting up a new one, presents a lot of advantages starting with the more rapid incorporation process.

Acquiring a shelf or readymade company implies purchasing shares from the Austrian company. For this purpose, after the payment the shares are transferred to the buyer. Any change in an Austrian company has to be reported to the Commercial Register of Austria. Therefore certain documents have to be provided before the actual share transfer. The Agreement for the foreign investor to purchase shares of an Austrian company has to be notarized as well as the formal registration of the new management board.

After the transfer is registered, foreign investors can proceed to update the Articles of Association of the company and to add eventual modifications such as new object of activity, address, different bank and other changes that need to be specified in the Austrian Commercial Register.

Purchasing shares in an Austrian shelf company requires a lot less paperwork then setting up a new company and offers many advantages (you can more easily obtain funds for your business, using the date of incorporation of the Austrian shelf company as the date of business commencement etc.)

We are able to offer VAT-registered Austrian shelf companies with legal address in Austrian major cities upon client's request.