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You can buy a limited company off the shelf and be its registered owner inside 24 to 72 hours. The company already exists: it was incorporated at a national register, given a company number and a certificate of incorporation, and then left dormant, so nothing has to be created from scratch. You sign a share-purchase agreement, we file the change of shareholder, director and beneficial owner, and the register shows you as the owner. In the United Kingdom that entity is a private company limited by shares registered at Companies House, so an off-the-shelf Ltd can be renamed and moved to your own registered office in the same week you buy it. See what is currently held in ready-made companies in the UK, or UK company formation if you would rather register a new one.
A company number and an incorporation date already on the public register, the certificate of incorporation, the memorandum and articles, the statutory registers, and the share capital recorded at incorporation. You also get the two things that take longest when you start from nothing: an entity your counterparty can look up before signing, and an entity a bank is generally more comfortable onboarding than a company registered the same morning. What you do not get is a trading history, because the company has never traded. If trading history is the point, that is a different product and it sits on our aged shelf companies page.
Every off-the-shelf company carries the name it was registered under, and in almost every jurisdiction you can change that name once you own it, so what you are really buying is the entity rather than the name. A name change is a directors’ resolution plus a routine filing, and in the United Kingdom it usually clears within 48 hours. If the name itself matters to you, say so before you pick the entity: several registers restrict sensitive words and will refuse a name that implies regulated activity or a connection to government.
An off-the-shelf company (also called a ready-made company, shelf company, vintage company, or in German-speaking jurisdictions a Vorratsgesellschaft) is a corporate entity that has been incorporated, registered with a national company register, and held inactive, no trading, no debts, no past beneficial-owner changes, until a buyer needs it. When you buy, the existing nominee shareholders transfer the entity to you via share-purchase agreement; the company-register update typically clears within 24-72 hours. ShelfCompanies24 maintains pre-formed entities across 56 jurisdictions worldwide and has been arranging this since 1995.
Buying an off-the-shelf company instead of forming a new one matters when timing matters: a contract or tender deadline that requires a counterparty signature in days, a banking onboarding that needs a documented-dormant entity (which most banks prefer over a brand-new incorporation), entry into a regulated activity that requires a pre-existing legal entity with a clean register record, or a jurisdiction with slow incorporation lead-times (Germany 4-6 weeks, Switzerland 3 weeks) where you can’t afford to wait.
The idea is the same everywhere, but the register, the notary rule and the transfer time are not. These are the jurisdictions buyers ask for most often, and each page carries that country’s legal form, corporate tax rate, transfer time and document list.
The full country index is on the jurisdictions page. If you are still weighing up buying against registering, read what a shelf company is and how the buying process runs, or look at the ready-made companies we hold.
“Off-the-shelf limited company” is the British term for a ready-made private limited company, an off-the-shelf Ltd, that is already registered at Companies House and held dormant until someone buys it. You take ownership through a simple share transfer that can complete in as little as 24 hours. We hold off-the-shelf limited companies in the UK and off-the-shelf companies in 55 other jurisdictions worldwide.
Yes, in every modern jurisdiction. The legal mechanism is just a share transfer between consenting parties, exactly the same mechanism used in M&A every day. Off-the-shelf companies have been a standard corporate-finance product in Europe and offshore jurisdictions since the 1970s.
Yes. “Off the shelf” is the British phrasing and “shelf company” the international one, and both describe an entity that was incorporated in advance and kept dormant until someone buys it. You will also see ready-made company, off-the-shelf Ltd, off shelf company and, in German-speaking jurisdictions, Vorratsgesellschaft. An aged company is the same thing after several years on the register, which is a separate product because the age itself is what the buyer wants.
Typical end-to-end timeline from KYC sign-off: 24-48 hours for offshore and Anglo-law jurisdictions (BVI, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore), 48 hours to 1 week for EU jurisdictions, and up to 1 week for civil-law jurisdictions that require notarisation (Germany, Switzerland). The variable is the local register’s update cycle.
Banks generally prefer a clean off-the-shelf company with documented dormancy over a brand-new incorporation, because the registry record is already established and the entity has demonstrably never traded. The variable is the buyer’s personal due diligence (source-of-funds, beneficial-owner screening), that is identical for new formation. Our consultants pre-screen your application.
Yes. A name change is filed with the local company register via a directors’ resolution and a routine filing, typically clears in 48 hours. We include up to one name change as standard.
Not automatically, and you should be wary of anyone who promises one. Most tax authorities grant a VAT registration against evidence of real trading activity, so a dormant entity usually holds a tax registration but not a VAT number. Where an entity we hold is already VAT registered we say so before you choose it, and where it is not, we file the application as soon as your activity profile supports it. Timing varies by country and the tax office decides, not us.
Every entity we offer has never traded (no invoices issued, no contracts signed), never opened a customer-facing bank account beyond the initial capital deposit, never accumulated tax losses, and never had a beneficial-owner change outside our nominee structure. The register record shows pure dormancy from incorporation to your acquisition date.
In almost every jurisdiction, yes. There is no residency or citizenship requirement for shareholders or beneficial owners in any of our 56 jurisdictions. A few jurisdictions require a local-resident director (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore), we provide a nominee director service in those cases.
Same tax treatment as any other company in that jurisdiction, there is no tax disadvantage to buying off-the-shelf vs forming new. 2026 corporate tax rates range from 0% (offshore IBC) to ~30% (Germany combined Körperschaftsteuer + Gewerbesteuer). See the dedicated country page for the specific 2026 rate applicable to your jurisdiction.
Buy off-the-shelf when timing matters (you need to be trading immediately or have a banking deadline) or when the jurisdiction has slow incorporation. Form new when you want a specific company name, custom share structure, or a clean greenfield record. Both routes have identical ongoing tax and compliance treatment, the choice is about timing and customisation.