Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien – abbreviated KGaA – is a German corporate designation standing for 'Association limited by shares'. A Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien has two types of participators. It has at least one partner with unlimited liability (Komplementär). It is in that sense a private company. Komplementärs are natural persons or legal persons. If the Komplementär is a corporation with limited liability then the type of the company has to be named as GmbH & Co. KGaA, Limited & Co. KGaA or AG & Co. KGaA.

The investment of the partners with limited liability (Kommanditen) is the stock of the company (Grundkapital) and divided into shares. A KGaA is in that aspect comparable with a german Aktiengesellschaft.

The investment of all partners is the corporate's total capital (Gesamtkapital). The KGaA is a traditional type of very large family business (that are partly publicly traded) in Germany.

[edit] Examples

Henkel KGaA is a DAX listed household products company founded in 1876. Henkel's CEO and members of the Henkel family are partners with unlimited liability.
Merck KGaA is a DAX listed chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in 1668. Partner with unlimited liability is the E. Merck OHG. Members of the Merck family and the CEO of the Merck KGaA are partners of the E. Merck OHG and therefore unlimited liable.
Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA is the only German football business publicly traded on stock market. Partner with unlimited liability is the Borussia Dortmund Geschäftsführungs-GmbH which is owned by the Borussia Dortmund Football Club.
Arcor AG & Co. KGaA is KGaA where the partner with unlimited liability is an Aktiengesellschaft.
Hella (company)