Company Extensions and Security Identifiers

This page provides definitions of company "extensions" and security identifiers. While U.S. companies are usually followed by "Inc.", many foreign companies have different endings. This section tells what these terms mean, and where they are used. If you don't know what country a company is based in, this list of identifers might help narrow your search.

Company Extensions

A

Ext.	Country	Description
A. en P.	Mexico	Asociación en Participación. Joint venture
AB	Sweden	Aktiebolag. Aktiebolag. Stock company -- can be publicly-traded or privately-held. In Sweden, privately-held AB's must have capital of at least SEK 100,000 upon incorporation. AB's are also required to allocate at least 10% of the profits for reserves per year until reserves are at least 20% of the start-up capital. Publicly-traded AB's in Sweden must have capital of at least SEK 500,000. There must be at least three board members for Swedish AB's. An Annual General Meeting is required. AB's are registered with the Swedish Patent and Registration Office (Patent- och Registreringsverket or PRV). The Swedish automobile and aircraft manufacturer SAAB is actually an acronym -- Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget. Aktiebolaget is sometimes used instead of Aktiebolag, since the definite article is appended to the end of the word in Swedish (Aktiebolaget means THE stock company whereas Aktiebolag means just Stock Company).
AB	Finland	Aktiebolag. In Finland, many companies use both this Swedish abbreviation and the Finnish language Oy designation, since Finland is a bilingual country. In Finland, an AB is only private (Apb is the public equivalent).
A.C.	Mexico	Asociación Civil Civil Association of a non-commercial nature.
ACE	Portugal	Agrupamento Complementar de Empresas. Association of businesses
AD	Bulgaria	Aktzionerno Druzhestvo. Limited Liability company, can be publicly-traded.
AE	Greece	Anonymos Etairia. Limited company. Must have a board of three to nine members.
AG	Austria	Aktiengesellschaft. Translates to "stock corporation". Minimum share capital is ATS 1 million. Par value of each share must be ATS 100, ATS 500, or a multiple of ATS 1,000. As in Germany, an Austrian AG must have both a Vorstand and an Aufsichtsrat.
AG	Germany	Aktiengesellschaft. Translates to "stock corporation." In Germany, all publicly traded companies are AG's, but not all AG's are publicly traded. AG's have two sets of boards -- the Vorstand, which usually consists of the CEO, CFO and other top management, and anAufsichtsrat, which translates to "supervisory board," which has the function of overseeing management and representing the shareholders. German law prohibits individuals from being members of both boards at the same time. AG's in Germany require a minimum of DM 100,000 share capital and at least five shareholders at incorporation. Minimum par value for shares is DM 50.
AG	Switzerland	Aktiengesellschaft. Translates to "stock corporation." In Switzerland, AG's must have at least CHF 100,000 share capital, and each share must be at least CHF 0.01 par value. When a Swiss entity registers as an AG, 3% of the capital must be paid to the authorities as a Tax if the share capital is equal to or more than CHF 250,000. There must be three shareholders (although they can be nominees). An annual audit is required, and an annual directors meeting and shareholders meetings must be held in Switzerland.
AL	Norway	Andelslag. Co-operative society. Note: this was formerly written as A.L. and A/L, but financial law reform has dictated that periods and slashes should no longer be used.
AmbA	Denmark	Andelsselskab.
ANS	Norway	Ansvarlig selskap. Trading partnership.
Apb	Finland	Publikt Aktiebolag. Public limited company. This is the Swedish language equivalent to the more commonly used Oyj in Finland. Finland is technically bilingual, so this could be used, but is not likely.
ApS	Denmark	Anpartsselskab. Limited liability corporation, required minimum share capital of DKK 200,000.
ApS & Co. K/S	Denmark	Similar to a K/S, but the entity with unlimited liability is a company (ApS) instead of an individual.
AS	Norway	Aksjeselskap, translates to "stock company," and gives owners limited liability. In Norway, publicly traded companies now use the ASA notation, and no longer use this notation. Private companies still use this AS notation. An AS requires minimum share capital of NOK 100,000, of which at least 50% must be paid up at incorporation. Note: this was formerly written as A.S. and A/S, but financial law reform has dictated that periods and slashes should no longer be used.
A/S	Denmark	Aktieselskap, translates to "stock company", and gives the owners limited liability. Danish companies require minimum share capital of DKK 500,000.
A.S.	Czech Republic	Akciova spolecnost. Joint stock company. Owners have limited liability. Share capital must be at least CZK 1 million. The company must put at least 20% of the capital into a reserve fund, which is funded by after-tax profits. The accounts must be audited annually. There must be at least three members on the board of directors, and each member must be a Czech citizen or resident.
A.S.	Estonia	Aktsiaselts, Joint stock company.
A.S.	Slovakia	Akciova Spolocnost, Joint stock company
A.S.	Turkey	Anonim Sirket, a limited liability company
ASA	Norway	Allmennaksjeselskap. Stock company. This acronym was chosen because Aas is a very common surname in Norway, which might have created some confusion. Since 1996, all publicly traded Norwegian companies are now incorporated in this legal structure, but not all ASA's are publicly traded. Note: this was formerly written as A.S.A. and A/S/A, but financial law reform has dictated that periods and slashes should no longer be used.
AVV	Aruba	Aruba Vrijgestelde Vennootschap. Aruba Exempt Company. This type of company is intended for non-residents of Aruba: and such a company pays no taxes (but must instead pay an annual registration fee of AFl 500, or about US$280). Registered or bearer shares may be issued, and preference shares are also allowed. Minimum share capital is AFl 10,000. There are no financial statements that are required to be filed, but there must be representation by a local Aruban company (usually a Trust Agent).

B

Ext.	Country	Description
Bpk	South Africa	Beperk
Bt	Hungary	Beteti társaság. Limited liability partnership.
B.V.	Belgium	Besloten Vennootschap. Limited liability company.
B.V.	Netherlands	Besloten Vennootschap. Limited liability company. Capital of at least 40,000 NLG is required to start at BV.
B.V.	Netherlands Antilles	Besloten Vennootschap. Limited liability company. Many companies incorporated in the Netherlands Antilles are merely shells created for tax purposes.
BVBA	Belgium	Besloten Vennootschap met Beperkte Aansprakelijkheid Flemish language equivalent of the SPRL. It means that the company is a private limited company. Capital must be at least BEF 750,000, with at least BEF 250,000 paid up.

C

Ext.	Country	Description
CA	Ecuador	Compania anonima.
Corp.	USA	Corporation. Same meaning as Incorporated.
C.V.	Netherlands	Commanditaire Vennootschap. Limited Partnership. One partner must have unlimited liability, and the others can have limited liability.
CVA	Belgium	Commanditaire Vennootschap op Aandelen. Limited partnership with shares. Flemish language equivalent to the French language SCA
CVoA	Netherlands	Commanditaire Vennootschap op Andelen. Limited Partnership, with shares

D

Ext.	Country	Description
DA	Norway	Selskap med delt ansar. Limited Partnership Note: this was formerly written as D.A. and D/A, but financial law reform has dictated that periods and slashes should no longer be used.
d/b/a	USA	Doing Business As. Used often by individuals who want to have a business name, but don't want to incorporate. Companies also use this designation when they operate under a name other than the owner's personal name or the name of a filed corporation/LLC.
d.d.	Croatia	dionicko drustvo. Joint stock company.
d.d.	Slovenia	Delniska druzba. Stock company -- all publicly traded companies must have this structure. Must have capital of SIT 3 million, and each share must have par value of SIT 1,000. Minimum of five shareholders.
d.n.o.	Slovenia	Druzba z neomejeno odgovornostjo. Partnership -- all partners have unlimited liability.
d.o.o.	Croatia	drustvo s ogranicenom odgovornoscu. Limited Liability company.
d.o.o.	Slovenia	Druzba z omejeno odgovornostjo. Limited Liability company. Must have a share capital of at least SIT 1.5 million, and each partner must invest at least SIT 10,000.

E

Ext.	Country	Description
EE	Greece	Eterrorrythmos. Limited liability partnership.
EEG	Austria	Eingetragene Erwerbsgesellschaft. Professional Partnership.
EIRL	Peru	Empresa Individual de Responsabilidad Limitada. Personal business with limited liability.
ELP	Bahamas	Exempted Limited Partnership. Has one or more limited partners, and one general partner, which must be a resident of the Bahamas or a company incorporated in the Bahamas. Cannot conduct business in the Bahamas, but may conduct business elsewhere. Usually set up for tax purposes.
EOOD	Bulgaria	Ednolichno Druzhestvo s Ogranichena Otgovornost. Limited liability company. Requires only one shareholder.
EPE	Greece	Etairia periorismenis evthinis. Limited liability company.
EURL	France	Enterprise Unipersonnelle à Responsabilité Limitée. Sole proprietorship with limited liability.
e.V.	Germany	Eingetragener Verein. Non profit society/association.

G

Ext.	Country	Description
GbR	Germany	Gesellschaft burgerlichen Rechts. Partnership without a legal name. Mainly used for non-commercial purposes. Partners have full liability.
GCV	Belgium	Gewone Commanditaire Vennootschap. Limited Partnership. The Flemish language equivalent to the French language SCS.
GesmbH	Austria	See GmbH. This abbreviation is only used in Austria (not Germany or Switzerland).
GIE	France	Groupement d'intéret économique. Economic Grouping of Interest. Two or more persons or entities form an alliance with the goal of facilitating or developing economic activity of the members.
GmbH & Co. KG	Germany	Like a KG, but the entity with unlimited liability is a GmbH instead of a person. (See the KG entry for more information).
GmbH	Austria	Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. Translates to "Company with limited liability." In Austria, this is often GesmbH, although this abbreviation is not used in Germany or Switzerland. In Austria, there must be at least two founding shareholders of a GmbH. Insurance companies and mortgage banking companies are not permitted to exist in this form. Minimum share capital is ATS 500,000, and at least half of this must be raised in cash. Minimum par value is ATS 1,000 per share. No citizenship or residence requirement for shareholders exists, and shareholders can be other companies. A general meeting must be held at least annually. If an Austrian GmbH controls companies with 300 or more employees, or if the company has more than 300 employees itself, there must be a supervisory board, which must have at least three members, one of whom represents the workers. The supervisory board must meet at least three times annually.
GmbH	Germany	Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. Translates to "Company with limited liability." In Germany, a GmbH means that the company is incorporated, but it is not publicly traded (as public companies must be AG's). GmbH's are essentially partnerships without a legal name, and there must be at least two partners. There must be nominal capital of at least DM 50,000. Subsidiaries of AG's can be GmbH's.
GmbH	Switzerland	Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. Translates to "Company with limited liability." In Switzerland, a GmbH cannot have shares, and the owners of the company are entered into the commercial registry. Nominees can be used for anonymity.

H

Ext.	Country	Description
HB	Sweden	Handelsbolag. Trading Partnership
hf	Iceland	Hlutafelag. Limited liability company.

I

Ext.	Country	Description
IBC	Various	International Business Company. Used for offshore companies, in places such as Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Islands, etc.
Inc.	USA	Means a company is Incorporated, and the owners have limited liability. In the United States, companies can be registered in any of the 50 states -- many of the bigger corporations are registered in Delaware due to various regulations. Incorporation in the United States is very easy, and can be done for minimal fees.
Inc	Canada	Incorporated. Limited liability
I/S	Denmark	Interessentskab. Used in Denmark. General partnership; all partners have unlimited liability.

J

Ext.	Country	Description
j.t.d.	Croatia	Javno trgovacko drustvo. Unlimited liability company.

K

Ext.	Country	Description
KA/S	Denmark	Kommanditaktieselskab. Limited partnership with share capital
Kb	Sweden	Kommanditbolag. Limited partnership. There must be at least one partner with unlimited liability, although some partners can have limited liability. In Sweden, all Kommanditbolags must be registered with the Patent and Registration Office. Annual reports must be filed annually. If there are more than 10 employees, then the annual accounts must be audited. If there are more than 200 employees, the annual reports must be filed with the Patent and Registration Office.
Kb	Finland	Kommanditbolag. Limited partnership. This is a Swedish term, and since Finland is technically bilingual, this abbreviation can be used there, although the Ky designation is more common.
KD	Bulgaria	Komanditno drushestwo. Partnership
k.d.	Croatia	komanditno drustvo. Limited Partnership.
k.d.	Slovenia	Komanditna druzba. Limited Partnership -- there must be at least one limited partner and one unlimited partner.
KDA	Bulgaria	Komanditno drushestwo s akzii. Partnership with shares.
k.d.d.	Slovenia	Komanditna delniska druzba. Limited Partnership with shares.
Kft	Hungary	korlátolt felelösségû társaság. Limited liability company. Similar to the German GmbH, this type of company offers limited liability, although the shares cannot trade publicly. Requires only one shareholder. Minimum share capital is HUF 1 million.
KG	Austria	Kommanditgesellschaft. A partnership under a legal name. There must be two partners, at least one limited and at least one unlimited partner. The limited partner's liability is listed in the commercial register.
KG	Germany	Kommanditgesellschaft. A partnership under a legal name. There must be a minimum of two partners, at least one limited and at least one unlimited.
KGaA	Germany	Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien. A Limited Partnership that has shares.
KK	Japan	Kabushiki Kaishi. Joint Stock Company
Kkt	Hungary	közkereseti társaság, General Partnership. All partners have unlimited liability.
Kol. SrK	Turkey	Kollektiv Sirket. Unlimited liability partnership.
Kom. SrK	Turkey	Komandit Sirket. Limited liability partnership.
k.s.	Czech Republic	komanditni spolecnost. Limited partnership. One partner must have unlimited liability, although other partners can carry limited liability.
K/S	Denmark	Kommanditselskab. Limited partnership: at least one partner has unlimited liability and at least one partner has limited liability.
KS	Norway	Kommandittselskap. Limited partnership: at least one partner has unlimited liability and at least one partner has limited liability. Note: this was formerly written as K.S. and K/S, but financial law reform has dictated that periods and slashes should no longer be used.
Kv	Hungary	Közös vállalat. Joint Venture
Ky	Finland	Kommandiittiyhtiö. Limited Partnership.

L

Ext.	Country	Description
Lda	Portugal	Sociedade por Quotas Limitada. Must have at least two shareholders, and paid in capital of at least 400,000 Escudos (800 Euros)
LDC	Bahamas	Limited Duration Company. A company, but it has a life of 30 years or less. Sometimes, these companies can be classified as partnerships in the United States.
LLC	USA	Limited Liability Company. Not really a corporation, and not really a partnership; it's something different altogether. Most states require at least two people to form an LLC, but some states require only one. An LLC has limited liability (hence the name), and unlimited life (i.e., the charter does not expire). In the United States, Corporations typically pay taxes, then distribute the profits via dividends, and the recipients must pay taxes on the dividends. An LLC allows for pass through taxation, which means that the income a company makes goes directly to the owners on their tax forms (even if the profits were not distributed). LLC's may have several different classes of stock.
LLP	USA	Limited Liability Partnership.
Ltd.	Various	Limited. Used in the UK and many former British colonies, as well as in other countries such as Japan. Indicates that a company is incorporated and that the owners have limited liability. This can also be used in the United States, and has the same meaning as Inc.
Ltda	Brazil	Sociedade por Quotas de Responsabiliadade Limitada. Means the owners have limited liability.
Ltée.	Canada	Limitée. French language equivalant of Ltd. (Limited). Indicates that a company is incorporated and that the owners have limited liability.

N

Ext.	Country	Description
N.A.	USA	National Association. Used by Banks in the United States as a way of getting the word national into their name, which is a legal requirement under certain banking regulations.
NT	Canada	iNTermediary. Indicates that a company is a financial intermediary. However, companies are not required to use this abbreviation in their name if they are a financial intermediary -- it's merely a description.
NV	Netherlands	Naamloze Vennootschap. All publicly traded Dutch companies are NV's, but not all NV's are publicly traded. Dutch NV's require 100,000 NLG share capital or more.
NV	Belgium	Naamloze Vennootschap. This is Flemish (Dutch): In Belgium, many companies use both NV and SA (the French language equivalent).
NV	Netherlands Antilles	Naamloze Vennootschap. In the Netherlands Antilles, many foreign companies establish subsidiaries to shelter taxes.
NV	Suriname	Naamloze Vennootschap. All publicly traded companies are NV's, but not all NV's are publicly traded. NV's require SRD 5000 (USD 1850) share capital or more.

O

Ext.	Country	Description
OE	Greece	Omorrythmos. Partnership. All partners have unlimited liability.
OHG	Austria	Offene Handelsgesellschaft. Partnership, with at least two partners. Partners have unlimited liability.
OHG	Germany	Offene Handelsgesellschaft. Partnership with a legal name, and must have at least two partners. Partners have unlimited liability.
OOD	Bulgaria	Druzhestvo s Ogranichena Otgovornost. Limited liability company. Requires at least two shareholders. Minimum share capital is 5000 leva (2550 Euro).
OÜ	Estonia	Osaühing. Private limited liability company. Minimum capital of EEK 40,000. This type of company doesn't trade on the stock exchange (as those are of the AS variety).
Oy	Finland	Osakeyhtiö. All corporations in Finland used to have this legal structure, although now, publicly traded companies will be OYJ (julkinen osakeyhtiö).
OYJ	Finland	Julkinen osakeyhtiö. Used by publicly-traded companies in Finland.

P

Ext.	Country	Description
P/L	Australia	Pty. Ltd. Proprietary Limited Company.
PC Ltd	Australia	Public Company Limited by Shares
PLC	Various	Public Limited Company A publicly traded company and the owners have limited liability. Used in the UK, Ireland, and elsewhere. In the UK, a PLC must have at least UKP 50,000 in authorized capital, with UKP 12,500 paid up.
PMA	Indonesia	Penenaman Modal Asing. Foreign joint venture company.
PMDN	Indonesia	Penanaman Modal Dalam Negeri. Domestic Capital investment company
PrC	Ireland	Private Company limited by shares.
Prp. Ltd.	Botswana	Private company limited by shares.
PT	Indonesia	Perseroan Terbuka. Limited liability company.
Pty.	Various	Stands for Proprietary. Used in South Africa, Australia and elsewhere.

R

Ext.	Country	Description
RAS	Estonia	Riiklik Aktsiaselts. State (owned) Joint Stock company.
Rt	Hungary	Részvénytársaság. Stock Company. All Hungarian publicly-traded companies are incorporated via this structure. However, an Rt doesn't necessarily mean that a company is publicly traded, and Rt companies may have as few as one shareholder. However, there are three board members required. Minimum share capital is HUF 10 million.

S

Ext.	Country	Description
S. de R.L.	Mexico	Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada. Limited Partnership
S. en C.	Colombia & Peru	Sociedad en Comandita. Limited Partnership
S. en N.C.	Mexico	Sociedad en Nombre Colectivo. General Partnership
S/A	Brazil	Sociedades Anônimas. In Brazil, there must be at least two shareholders of an S/A, and they must have paid in cash at least 10% of the subscribed capital. The Capital must be deposited with the Bank of Brazil or other approved entity of the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission. Annual accounts must be published.
SA	Belgium	Société Anonyme, the Dutch language equivalent is NV. Initial capital must be BEF 2.5 million, and must be fully paid up upon incorporation.
SA	France	Société Anonyme.
SA	Greece	Société Anonyme. A Greek SA must have share capital of GRD 10 million.
sa	Italy	Societá in accomandita per azioni. Limited partnership with shares.
SA	Ivory Coast	Société Anonyme. Requires a minimum of seven shareholders. Each share must have a par value of at least 5000 CFA Francs,
SA	Luxembourg	Société Anonyme. There is a minimum of two shareholders, and a minimum share capital of LUF 1.25 million.
SA	Mexico	Sociedad anónima. Mexican SA's require a minimum capital of N$50,000. At least 20% of this must be paid-in at the time of incorporation. There is a minimum of two shareholders, but no maximum. Ordinary shareholder meetings can be called with 1/2 of the shares voting, and extraordinary meetings require a 3/4 vote. Shareholder meetings must take place in the city where the company is located, but board meetings can be abroad. 5% of annual profits must be allocated to a reserve until the reserve totals 20% of the capital.
SA	Morocco	Société Anonyme. SA's must have at least seven shareholders and a share capital of at least 10,000 dirhams, with each share having a minimum par value of 1000 dirhams.
SA	Poland	Spolka Akcyjna. Stock company
SA	Portugal	Sociedad Anónima. Share capital minimum of PTE 5 million, and a minimum par value of PTE 1000 per share. There is a minimum of 5 shareholders. Companies are registered in the Commercial Registry.
SA	Romania	Societate pe actiuni. Limited liability company, can be publicly-traded. Can be set up by one or more shareholders (but not more than 50) and must have a minimum capital of RL 2 million (about $100.00). At present, capital contributed by a foreign investor is converted to lei at the prevailing market exchange rate in effect at the time the capital is contributed for accounting purposes only. Companies may maintain bank accounts in foreign currency. The registered capital is divided into equal shares whose value cannot be less than RL 100,000 (about $5.00 USD) each.
S.A.	Brazil	Sociedade por Ações. Privately-held company
SA de CV	Mexico	Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable In Mexico, SA's can have either fixed or variable capital; this abbreviation is used for those with variable capital.
SAFI	Uruguay	Sociedad Anonima Financiera de Inversion. Offshore company.
S.A.I.C.A.	Venezuela	Sociedad Anónima Inscrita de Capital Abierto. Open Capital Company
SApA	Italy	Societa in Accomandita per Azioni.
Sarl	France & Other	Société à responsabilité limitée. Used in France and other French speaking countries. Private company.
Sarl	Luxembourg	Société à responsabilité limitée. Private company -- must have share capital of at least LUF 500,000, and 100% must be paid up on formation. Requires a minimum of one director and two shareholders.
SAS	Italy	Societá in Accomandita Semplice. Limited Partnership.
SC	France	Société civile. Partnership with full liability.
SC	Poland	Spólka prawa cywilnego. Partnership with all partners having unlimited liability.
S.C.	Spain	Sociedad en commandita. General Partnership.
SCA	Belgium	Societe en commandite par actions. Limited partnership with share capital.
SCA	Romania	Societate in còmandita pe actiuni. Limited liability partnership with shares.
SCP	Brazil	Sociedade em Conta de Participacão. This is a partnership where there is one partner assumed responsible for running the business. The other partners carry liability, but they do not have to be revealed.
SCS	Belgium & France	Societe en Commandite Simple.
S.C.S.	Brazil	Sociedade em Comandita Simples. Limited Partnership
SCS	Romania	Societate in comandita simpla. Limited liability partnership.
Sdn Bhd	Malaysia	Sendirian Berhad. Limited Liability Company.
SENC	Luxembourg	Société en Nom Collectif. General Partnership
SGPS	Portugal	Sociedade gestora de participações socialis. Holding Enterprise.
SK	Poland	Spólka komandytowa. Limited liability partnership.
SNC	France	Société en nom collectif. General Partnership
SNC	Italy	Società in Nome Collettivo. General Partnership.
SNC	Romania	Societate in nume colectiv. General Partnership.
SNC	Spain	General Partnership
SOPARFI	Luxembourg	Société de Participation Financiére. Holding company.
sp	France	Societe en participation.
SpA	Italy	Società per Azioni. Limited share company.
spol s.r.o.	Czech Republic	Spolecnost s rucenim omezenym. Limited liability company. This type of company cannot trade on the stock exchange, but owners have limited liability up to their unpaid deposits. This type of company must have share capital of at least CZK 100,000, and each shareholder must contribute at least CZK 20,000. A reserve fund of at least 10% of the share capital must be created from the profits. There is a maximum of 50 shareholders. Directors must be Czech citizens or residents. An annual audit is usually not required.
SPRL	Belgium	Société Privée à Responsabilité Limitée. French language equivalent to BVBA -- see that definition for more information.
Sp. z.o.o.	Poland	Spólka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia. Limited liability company, privately-held.
Srl	Chile	Sociedad de responsabilidad limitada, Limited Liability company
Srl	Italy	Società a Responsabilità Limitata. Limited liability company.
Srl	Mexico	Sociedad de responsabilidad limitada. This type of limited liability company is really not that common in Mexico. A minimum of N$3,000 is required.
Srl	Romania	societate cu raspondere limitata. Limited-liability company, privately-held. Can be set up by one or more shareholders (but not more than 50) and must have a minimum capital of RL 2 million (about $100.00). At present, capital contributed by a foreign investor is converted to lei at the prevailing market exchange rate in effect at the time the capital is contributed for accounting purposes only. Companies may maintain bank accounts in foreign currency. The registered capital is divided into equal shares whose value cannot be less than RL 100,000 (about $5.00) each.
Srl	Spain	Sociedad Regular Colectiva .

T

Ext.	Country	Description
td	Slovenia	Tiha druzba. Sole proprietorship.
TLS	Turkey	Türk Limited Sirket. Private Limited Liability Company

V

Ext.	Country	Description
VEB	East Germany	Volkseigner Betrieb. Term for East German companies before Reunification. They were all either shut down, or converted into AGs or GmbHs by the Privitization Agency (Treuhandanstalt).
VOF	Netherlands	Vennootschap onder firma. General partnership.
v.o.s.	Czech Rep	Verejna obchodni spolecnost. General partnership. Partners are fully liable.

Security Identifiers

Bonds and Stocks usually have one or more identifier codes, issued by various clearing houses or other agencies. The purpose of these identifiers is to prevent confusion when discussing a particular security, particularly a bond. While a company will usually only have one class of stock, it can have many different bond issues. The following is a list of various security identifiers along with information about their structure and issuers.

ID	Description
Cedel	No longer used; replaced by the Common Code on January 1, 1991.
CIN	CUSIP International Number. Used for non-U.S. and non-Canadian securities. Nine characters. The first character is always a letter, which represents the country of issue. The country codes are as follows: A=Austria, B=Belgium, C=China, D=Germany, E=Spain, F=France, G=Great Britain, H=Switzerland, J=Japan, K=Denmark, L=Luxembourg, M= MiddleEast, N=Netherlands P= South America, Q=Australia, R=Norway, S=South Africa, T= Italy, U= United States, V =Africa(Other), W= Sweden, X=Europe (Other), Y=Asia. The next five characters are numbers which represent the issuer, followed by two digits representing the security. The final digit is the check digit.
Common Code	Issued in Luxembourg, replaces CEDEL and Euroclear codes. Nine digits. Final digit is a check digit, computed on a multiplicative system.
CUSIP	Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures. Standard & Poor's assigns a nine character code to stocks and bonds. The first six characters identify the issuer. The next two characters represent the security that was issued, and the ninth character is a check digit, which is computed using a modulus 10 double add double calculation. For Canadian and U.S. securities, the first character is always a digit. Other countries use an alphabetic first character. See CIN number, above.
Euroclear	Not used anymore; replaced by the Common Code on January 1, 1991.
ISIN	International Securities Identification Number. This is a twelve character code developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO) that represents a security. The first two letters always represent the country code, and the ISO standards are used. Basically, these are the same two letters as used in Internet addresses (however GB, not UK, is used for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). The next nine characters usually use some other code, such as CUSIP in the United States, SEDOL in Great Britain, etc. Leading spaces are padded with 0. The final digit is the check digit, also computed with modulus 10 double add double, but it is different from the method used in CUSIP's.
RIC	Reuter Identification Code. Used on the Reuters Terminal to pull up a particular security. When an equal sign is the last character, that symbol is a master RIC. An RIC that has an equal sign followed by some additional letters means that this string contains the price quoted by some entity. That entity is denoted by those letters following the equal sign.
SEDOL	Stock Exchange Daily Official List. Securities identification code issued by the London Stock Exchange. Has a built in check digit system.
SIC	Standard Industrial Code. Denotes the company's line of business. Does not symbolize a security.
SICC	Security Identification Code Conference. Used in Japan instead of ticker symbols, usually four digits.
Sicovam	Société Interprofessional Pour La Compensation des Valeurs Mobiliers. Used in France.
SVM	Used in Belgium.
Valoren	Identifier for Swiss securities. No check digit system.
Wertpapier Kenn-nummer	Issued in Germany by the Wertpapier Mitteilungen. Six digits, no check digit. Different ranges of numbers represent different classes of securities. Sometimes called WPK. Note that this number has widespread use in Germany: much more so than the CUSIP in the United States, for instance.
WKN	See Wertpapier Kenn-Nummer.
WPK	See Wertpapier Kenn-Nummer.