A Limited Liability Company by shares as defined in the Cyprus Company Law Chapter 113 is ‘a company having the liability of its members limited by the memorandum to the amount, if any, unpaid on shares respectively held by them’. In a company limited by shares the members contribute to the capital of the company and the liability owed by the members is to the company and not to the company’s creditors.
A company limited by shares can be a Private or a Public Company.
A Private company as defined by the Cyprus Company Law Chapter 113 is ‘a company which by its articles restricts the right to transfer its shares and limits the number of its members to fifty, not including persons who are in the employment of the company and persons who, having been formerly in the employment of the company, were while in that employment, and have continued after the determination of that employment to be, members of the company and prohibits any invitation to the public to subscribe for any shares or debentures of the company’.
A Public Company as defined in the Cyprus Company Law Chapter 113 ‘means a company that is not a Private Company’. A Public Company limited by shares can be listed on the Cyprus stock exchange.