''Società a responsabilità limitata'' (S.r.l. or srl) is a kind of legal corporate entity in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, which literally means (but is not entirely equal to)

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

. It has a similar form to ''società sportiva dilettantistica a responsabilità limitata'' (S.s.d a r.l.) for amateur sports-related companies and their corresponding regulations: article 90 of the Italian Law №289 of 2002. Differing from ''

società per azioni ''Società'' (Italian: ''Society'') was an Italian communist cultural magazine published in Italy between 1945 and 1961. History and profile ''Società'' was founded as a quarterly magazine in Florence in 1945. The founders were Ranuccio Bianchi ...

'' (S.p.A.), S.r.l. may not issue shares that have

par value Par value, in finance and accounting, means stated value or face value. From this come the expressions at par (at the par value), over par (over par value) and under par (under par value). Bonds A Bond_(finance), bond selling at par is priced at 1 ...

, but only the quota ( it, quote) or units of the

share capital A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. "Share capita ...

. Moreover, the articles of association of S.r.l. allowed different allocations of profits and assets, which was more comparable to a

limited partnership A limited partnership (LP) is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership except that while a general partnership must have at least two general partners (GPs), a limited partnership must have at least one GP and at least one limited ...

. A fourth form of corporate entity, "''società cooperativa a responsabilità limitata''" (S.c.r.l. or S.c. a r.l.), was seen in the

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

s of Italy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Societa a Responsabilità Limitata Legal entities Types of business entity