Mike C

Company is a non-specific term. One of my companies is owned solely by me. Another is Ltd with shareholders (I'm managing director).

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lin

Wait a minute. I own a store, expand it into a chain, have 1000 employees and that's not a company?

Maybe there's a different definition of that in US and UK.

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Non Serviam

We're getting into the semantics of what's meant by "company" here.

When *I* talk about a company, I mean a company as defined in the Law of England and Wales, and specifically, the Companies Act 2006, the full text of which is here:

Companies Act 2006 (c. 46)

These are organisations registered with Companies House.

Now it's quite possible, in the Law of England and Wales, to have a very substantial firm that isn't technically a company. Firms of solicitors are a good example.

It's also possible to have a company with shares that haven't yet been registered or distributed by means of share certificates. But the shares exist, or are deemed to exist, unless it's a company limited by guarantee.

A commercial organisation of another kind isn't technically a company, though it might be a firm.

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qwertyman

If you still haven't found the format you are looking for. There is another alernative.

An unlimited company. They would issue shares and in many respects are similar except. The liability of the Directors is not limited to the value of the company, in return they are only required to file a Company Statement and not a full set of accounts.

By it's nature this kind of company would normally deal in securities, stocks and shares, maybe paintings, a property or antiques.

If I remember correctly unlimited companies are only obliged to have one Director but the Company Secretary cannot double as that Director. However, there are a lot of professional firms that will perform that task for you. If, for the purpose of your story, you wanted a company that did not file a lot of information for public scrutiny, An unlimited Company should be worth considering.

Last point when your character inherited these shares he would have been liable to Inheritance tax, which would probably cost him £3 Million plus.

However if he inherited less than 50% of the company, the value could me discounted as it did not represent a majority holding. The discount could be as much as 30-40%, maybe more.