Are you looking for a shelf company? Should you buy a shelf company or register a new one? A shelf company is a company that was pre-registered. It has no assets or liabilities and has never conducted business. It is registered with the sole purpose of being sold. It sits on a metaphorical shelf, waiting for someone to buy it.
The problem with a Shelf Company
The problem is that the person who buys it has to change many things to make it their own, as it were. For example, they have to:
- Change the directors
- Change the registered office address
The new owner may also want to:
- Change its name
- Change the auditor
It is better to register a new company
Once you have made all of these changes, you might as well have registered a new company in the first place. It will take longer and cost more to make the changes than to just register a new company. With a shelf company you also do not have a Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) that has been tailored specifically for you, so you might have to amend the MOI.
The only benefit to a shelf company is if you need to save time. You have an entity with a registration number that you can start trading with, even though you are not the director.
