Società per azioni
Società per azioni (S.p.A. or SpA) is a form of corporation in Italy, meaning "company with shares" (although often translated as "joint-stock company", which may or may not be a limited liability entity). It is equivalent to S.A. or public limited company in other countries. However, S.p.A. has some differences from plc or S.A.
The other common form of corporation in Italy was società a responsabilità limitata (s.r.l.) (literally: limited liability company). S.p.A. issued shares (Italian: azioni), while in s.r.l. the unit was quote/stock of share capital. Moreover, the articles of association of s.r.l. allowed different allocation of profit and assets, which was more comparable to a limited partnership.[1]
Since 2016, banks are required to run as S.p.A. if their assets are more than a defined threshold.[2] This saw the blue chips of the FTSE MIB Index: Banco BPM, BPER Banca, UBI Banca, demutualized from s.c.p.a., s.c. a.r.l., or s.c. legal forms (respectively, co-operative company by shares, co-operative company with limited liabilities, and co-operative company).
See also
- Aktiengesellschaft, the legal form of company in Germany, commonly used in the German translation of Italian companies in German-speaking autonomous regions
References
- "A Review of Italian and UK Company Law" (PDF). ACCA. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
- Italian Law №3 of 2015