A company may either be set up as a public or private company. A public company is a listed company where the shares or class of shares of the company have been admitted to quotation on the Official List of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius. A private company is one that cannot have more than 50 shareholders; cannot offer its shares or debentures to the public; and may restrict the transfer of its shares.
Apart from the traditional companies limited by shares, limited by guarantee or unlimited, two types of companies are available, namely, companies limited by shares and guarantee and Limited Life Companies (LLCs).
A company is considered a public company unless it is stated in its constitution (or application) that it is private.
A company is considered as a small private company if the turnover of its last preceding period is less than MUR 10 million.
A private company shall be a one-person company where the only shareholder is also the sole director of the company.
A holding company is one that controls another company either through the composition of the Board of the other, or through voting shares in the other. The other company is the subsidiary.
A foreign company is a body corporate incorporated outside Mauritius that has a place of business or is carrying on business in Mauritius and is registered in Mauritius as a foreign company.
Any of the above mentioned companies may be listed as a global business company (GBC) which is a company holding a Global Business License.
A management company is one that has been licenced under the FSD Act to set up and manage Global Business Companies.
Another concept is the dormant company which can be declared as such for any period during which no significant accounting transaction occurs and is therefore exempt from auditing their accounts, and benefits from reduced licence fees.
