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Aktiebolag (literally "share company" or "stock company") is the Swedish term for "limited company" or "corporation". When used in company names, it is abbreviated "AB" (roughly equivalent to the abbreviations Ltd and PLC). The governmental authority responsible for registration of limited companies in Sweden is called Bolagsverket (the Swedish Companies Registration Office).

Swedish aktiebolag are divided into two categories: private limited companies and public limited companies. A public limited company (publikt aktiebolag) is legally denoted as "AB (publ)". It must have a minimum share capital of 500,000 Swedish kronor^[1] and its shares can be offered to the general public on the stock market. The suffix "(publ)" is sometimes omitted in texts of an informal nature, but according to the Swedish Companies Registration Office, "the name of a public limited company must be mentioned with the term (publ) after the business name in the articles of association and elsewhere", unless it is clearly understood from the company’s business name that the company is a public limited company.^[1]

For a private limited company (privat aktiebolag), the minimum share capital is 100,000 Swedish kronor. The company name of a private limited company may not contain the word ' publikt' (public) and the name of a public limited company may not contain the word 'privat' (private).^[1]

The main Swedish statutes regulating limited companies are The Companies Act (Aktiebolagslagen (ABL) 2005:551) and The Limited Companies Ordinance (Aktiebolagsförordningen 2005:559). The law provisions in ABL stipulate that parent companies and subsidiaries are separate legal persons and legal entities,^[2]

The abbreviation AB is seen in company names such as Lavasoft AB, MySQL AB, Scania AB and Saab (Svenska Aeroplan AB).

[edit] See also

• Aktieselskab (the corresponding concept in Denmark)
• Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH; limited liability company)
• Joint Stock Company
• Limited liability company
• Naamloze Vennootschap (the corresponding concept in the Netherlands)
• Osakeyhtiö (the corresponding concept in Finland)
• Public limited company (the corresponding concept in the UK and in Ireland)
• S. A. (the corresponding concept in France, Spain and other Romance language countries)
• Societas Europaea (the corresponding concept for European companies in the European Union)

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Limited Company. New company registration. In Information about limited liability company, Bolagsverket (The Swedish Companies Registration Office). Retrieved 16 September 2008.
2. ^ Action brought on 25 June 2008 — Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Sweden (Case C-274/08)(2008/C 236/10). Official Journal of the European Union, 13 September 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2008.

[edit] External links

• Swedish Companies Registration Office

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