Pty companies

Victor

I've seen a lot of South African and Australian companies in the format of Acme Pty Ltd. What does the Pty mean? (I presume it isn't property)

Graham

Pty stands for "Proprietary", meaning "private". Ltd is short for "Limited", referring to the function of limiting liability. When you put Pty and Ltd together, in regard to a corporate entity, it indicates one that is private - share sales/transfers are strictly regulated between the owners, and one that protects the owners liability to the limit of their invested capital as shares. Together Pty and Ltd, under South African Law, indicates a legal entity in the form of an incorporated company, e.g. Bilkovo (Pty) Ltd, or in the long form Bilkovo (Proprietary) Limited which can have up to 50 shareholders/directors.

DMC

Another explaination, thanks to an Aussie mailing list

"Propriety Company

this means the company shares are not available to the public - but there must be a minimum of 2 shareholders - often with limited capital - a person has to be invited to be a shareholder -

The main use is usually (but not exclusively) for family companies - in the past shareholders/directors could not be sued for the company debts - but this no longer applies in almost all cases should the compony go bankrupt.

Listed companies sometimes use it as for a second company between sections of a company - or - between two companies - often in a temporary situation where they are trying to hide what they are doing short term - often as a precursor to a joint project when a public company may be formed."