Purchasing a shelf company in Poland

A Polish shelf company or a readymade company could be preferred over the creation of a newly formed corporate entity for a number of reasons, such as providing clients with additional confidence or a quicker method to start doing business in Poland.

Nevertheless the foreign investor must note that the procedure of purchasing shares in an existing company in Poland is relatively similar to setting up a new company. Therefore changes in a Polish company structure will have to be registered with the Polish Trade Registry, incorporation documents will have to be provided by the new shareholders (such as extracts from the Trade Register where the foreign corporate entity is located showing current status of the respective shareholder; Decision of the foreign corporate entity in regards to the purchase of the shares in the Polish Company; Articles of Association of the foreign shareholder. etc.) in notarized copies.

Before the actual registration of the share transfer in the shelf company, the Share Transfer Agreement will have to be made through a Notary and will imply supplying certain requested documents. Formal registrations of the new management board, shareholders would be registered with the Trade Register after this step is performed.

At the moment of registering the transfer of the Polish shelf company and updating the Articles of Association of the company, the new shareholder can also bring additional modifications, such as a new company name, new or additional objects of activity as well as other updates such as registering new bank representatives.

Throughout the purchase of a readymade company in Poland the new shareholder is advised to gather information on the company’s prior accounting and tax fillings, prior business activities, existing company assets, employees or commercial obligations.

Although buying a readymade company in Poland will take the same amount of time and paperwork necessary for the formation of a new company, the operation could prove to be profitable when the corporate entity is used for purchasing real estate, participating in tenders, applying for certain licenses etc.

BridgeWest is able to offer VAT-registered Polish shelf companies headquartered in Polish major cities per the requirements of the clients.

BridgeWest offers assistance for setting up a company in Poland, including virtual office and other related services.