Securing a company’s investments

[delarue]

Hello everybody
I think to switch my shareholding by putting an holding as the only‌ shareholder to secure my limited company owning real estate and avoiding being a shareholder as‍ a physical person to secure the limited company from any personal creditor on the future.⁠

Do you think that it brings an extra protection if one day I get a⁤ debt personnaly or that the corporate veil related to the limited company is enough ?⁣

Knowing that the limited doesn’t engage in
risky activity but only in investing in real⁢ estate.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

 

[Martin Everson]

Where is the company based? You will still be UBO⁠ and this may be recorded or may not be depending on where company is based.⁤

 

[delarue]

The company owning the assets is a polish limited, I plan to have only one‌ shareholder in this polish company which would be an English ltd (holding) in spite of‍ being exposed directly by owning the shares personnally.
I presume the UBO matters in case⁠ of fraud which implies piercing the corporate veil, but for all any other personal debts⁤ the company is a separate legal person and the corporate veil cannot be pierced for⁣ what I know.
The question is by adding one holding as the only shareholder, any⁢ creditor would need to seize the shares of the holding to seize the shares of︀ the polish company isn’t it ? Which make the process very hard for any creditor︁ and bring an extra protection?

 

[Martin Everson]

You will still be the UBO in the end and key is the word "owner"⁤ in UBO. The question of weather a creditor can pierce your corporate veil is another⁣ issue. We have already seen Oligarchs have yachts seized owned by much more complex structures⁢ because they are UBO.

Poland is in EU and should have by now a UBO︀ register for its companies.

https://www.pwc.pl/en/services/legal-services/polish-ultimate-beneficial-owner-register.html

I would speak to a lawyer in Poland and determine︃ if there has been any legal precedence where a corporate veil used to conceal assets︄ has been pierced in favor of creditors seeking recompense from UBO. But yes the company︅ is generally a separate legal entity but legal precedence in your home country matters more.︆ That's called the reality side aside as opposed to the theory side.