Our German teams are experts in a wide range of corporate secretarial services to help you keep on top of your corporate compliance. We provide incorporation assistance (see “Setting up a business in Germany” for more details), shelf companies (limited liability companies) and directorship services. We also help big and small businesses with meeting the minimum statutory compliance requirements according to German law, e.g. the organisation, coordination and execution of the mandatory annual general meeting (AGM) and further shareholder meetings. For multinationals, we can act as a process agent or assist in other ways.
Directorship services
We provide management services by rendering one more or more individuals who act as
- personal managing director(s) (mainly GmbH)
- permanent representative(s) (branch)
- proxies (Prokurist)
These persons will conduct the business of your company only with your prior approval and/or instruction.
Corporate Secretarial/Administration Services*
- Organisation, coordination and execution of mandatory annual general meetings for a GmbH (AGM) (in general, this is not applicable for a branch)
- Preparation of AGM:
. inform and agree with managing director/client to set up AGM
. notification of AGM and coordination with all shareholders
. coordination with auditor, if any
- AGM Event:
. Draft of standard minutes/shareholder resolutions (approval of annual financial statements, allocation of annual results, discharge of the management, appointment of auditors if applicable)
. Participation in AGM (upon POA if necessary)
. Coordination with managing directors and shareholders for the signatures
. Finalise minutes and shareholder resolutions
- Filing minutes and (audited) statutory accounts with the authority
- Archiving of the corporate documents (e.g. register extracts, articles of association, shareholder list, shareholder/board resolutions/minutes of shareholder/board meetings, etc.)
- Request/provision of one trade register excerpt (online, chronological) per year
- Filing and publication of the Company's annual financial statements with the electronic gazette
Non-standard Corporate Secretarial/Administrative Services
- Organisation of the (physical) annual general shareholder meeting
- Extraordinary shareholder or board meetings/resolutions (e.g. director changes or changes of articles of association)
- Non-recurring legal or specific management or administrative services and further ad hoc requests
- Restructuring
- Assistance with opening a bank account in Germany
- Assistance with tax and legal registration in Germany