(ˌbə.ˈsloː.tə ˈvɛ.noːt.ˌsxɑp) (usually abbreviated BV) is the Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 terminology

Terminology

Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...

 for a private

Privately held company

A privately held company or close corporation is a business company owned either by non-governmental organizations or by a relatively small number of shareholders or company members which does not offer or trade its company stock to the general public on the stock market exchanges, but rather the...

 limited liability company

Limited liability company

A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...

. The company is owned by shareholders, and the company's shares

Share (finance)

A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...

 are privately registered and not freely transferable. The phrase means "secluded partnership" or "private partnership" and it is the most common form of enterprise in the Netherlands.

A BV may be created by one or more individuals or legal entities, Dutch or foreign, with a minimum paid in capital

Paid in capital

Paid in capital refers to capital contributed to a corporation by investors through purchase of stock from the corporation . It includes share capital Paid in capital (Paid-in capital or Contributed capital) refers to capital contributed to a corporation by investors through purchase of stock...

 of €18,000. After the Ministry of Justice issues a statement of no-objection, a deed of incorporation is executed and filed. The deed must be in Dutch; it contains details of the incorporators and of the initial Members of the Board, their amounts of participation and payments of initial capital. The deed also contains the Articles of Association

Articles of Association (law)

The term articles of association of a company, or articles of incorporation, of an American or Canadian Company, are often simply referred to as articles . The Articles are a requirement for the establishment of a company under the law of India, the United Kingdom and many other countries...

, consisting of at least:

• the company name (which must begin or end with "B.V.")
• the city where the company has its registered seat
  Seat (legal entity)
  In strict legal language, the term seat defines the seat of a corporation or organisation as a legal entity, indicating where the headquarters of this entity are located...
  
  
• the purpose of the company
• the authorized capital in Euro and its division in shares
• the conditions for share transfer

The authorized capital is the maximum capital that may subsequently be issued without altering the Articles of Association; it may be up to a maximum of five times the initial capital.

Contrast with the publicly traded form of company: .

See also

• Types of companies
• Types of corporations
  Types of corporations
  There are many types of business entity defined in the legal systems of various countries. These include corporations, cooperatives, partnerships, sole traders, limited liability company and other specialized types of organization...
  
  
• Ltd.
  Private company limited by shares
  A private company limited by shares, usually called a private limited company , is a type of company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, Scotland, that of certain Commonwealth countries and the Republic of Ireland...
  
   (the corresponding concept in the UK and in Ireland)
• Pty Ltd (the corresponding concept in Australia and South Africa)
• SARL
  Société à responsabilité limitée
  A Société à responsabilité limitée, also known by the acronym SARL , is a private limited liability corporate entity that exists in France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Macau, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Lebanon and has commerce as its purpose.A SARL is a company whose liability is limited to the...
  
   (the corresponding concept in France, Switzerland and Luxembourgh)
• S.R.L. (the corresponding concept in Romania and Moldavia)
• GmbH
  Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
  Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung is a type of legal entityvery common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other Central European countries...
  
   (the corresponding concept in Germany and Austria)
• Anpartsselskab
  ApS
  ApS is an abbreviation for "", the Danish term for a limited liability company. ApS, when appended to the end of a Danish company name, is similar to Ltd. after the name of a British company. An ApS is required to have capital of at least 80,000 DKK .-References:*...
  
   (the corresponding concept in Denmark)
• Aktiebolag
  Aktiebolag
  Aktiebolag is the Swedish term for "limited company" or "corporation". When used in company names, it is abbreviated "AB" or "Ab"...
  
   (the corresponding concept in Sweden)
• PrAT- pryvatne akcionerne tovarystvo (the corresponding concept in Ukraine)