''Société par actions simplifiée'' (SAS; English: simplified

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

) is a French type of business entity. It is the first hybrid entity enacted under

French law The Law of France refers to the legal system in the French Republic, which is a civil law legal system primarily based on legal codes and statutes, with case law also playing an important role. The most influential of the French legal codes is ...

and based on

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

principles rather than

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

. It is similar to a

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 ...

under

United States law The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as v ...

, as the Delaware LLC was the model used by the French government. The SAS is also similar to the

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

British law The United Kingdom has four legal systems, each of which derives from a particular geographical area for a variety of historical reasons: English and Welsh law, Scots law, Northern Ireland law, and, since 2007, purely Welsh law (as a result of ...

, and most other hybrids, though the hybrid in civil-law countries is quite different because there is also a hybrid of common law principles applied. A ''société par actions simplifiée'' has its annual statements audited by an independent body and published. The head of a ''société par actions simplifiée'' is its ''président''. However, unlike the '' société anonyme'', it does not have a board. The ''président'' is also responsible for the operation of the company. The company may also have a ''directeur général'' (

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

), who has the same authority as the ''président'' with respect to third parties. The ''président'' can be either a physical person or a corporation, if there is only one shareholder. An SAS with only one shareholder is known as a ''société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle'' (SASU). The ''société par actions simplifiée'' form of organisation is useful for companies that are wholly owned subsidiaries of another company, often a

publicly traded A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...

corporation, since they do not need a complex capital equity structure. An example of this is European aerospace giant

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

, which is an SAS wholly owned by Airbus Group. It is also useful for companies held by families or small, close-knit groups of families. For example, the

Louis Dreyfus Group Louis Dreyfus Company B.V. (LDC), also called the Louis-Dreyfus Group, is a French merchant firm that is involved in agriculture, food processing, international shipping, and finance. The company owns and manages hedge funds, ocean vessels, dev ...

, a trading conglomerate, is held in this manner by members of the Louis-Dreyfus family.

References

Legal entities Types of companies of France {{Business-stub ru:Непубличное акционерное общество