The Maltese Companies Act, 1995 is based primarily on UK company law principles but has also been harmonised with the EU Directives. Accordingly, similar to UK law, Maltese company law provides for the set up of three types of commercial entities, namely partnerships en non collectif; limited partnerships en comandite and limited liability companies. With regard to companies, legislation distinguishes between two main types of companies, namely the:
- private limited liability company; and
- public limited liability company.
Whereas public companies may offer their shares to the investing public, private companies are prohibited from so doing. Transfer of shares in private companies is restricted, in that shareholders must first offer their shares to the other existing shareholders before offering them to third parties.
A private company may opt for private exempt status in which case it may have a single shareholder. However, the main relevance of the private exempt company is for accounting purposes since such companies may submit fewer accounting documents to the Registrar of Companies
The Companies Act regulates in detail the workings of companies and also the procedure to be followed at each and every stage, from incorporation to liquidation, with relative provisions for fraudulent and negligent trading to ensure maximum protection of creditors and shareholders.
The Firm provides, as one of its main focus activities, a full range of services in the corporate and commercial field. From negotiation to execution stage, whether in a single jurisdiction or in a cross-border transaction, commercial contracting is catered for in detail with a tailor-made approach to best suit the requirements of the case.
PCM Legal provides services in the following areas:
- Company formation and incorporation
- Partnership formation and Contracting
- Re-domiciliation of Companies
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Joint Ventures
- Franchise and Distribution Agreements
- Agency Agreements
- National and/or Cross-Border Transactions
- Corporate Structuring and re-structuring
- Share and/or Asset Acquisition and Disposal
- Commercial litigation and dispute resolution