''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 stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders a ...

) 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 t ...

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 omniprese ...

principles rather than civil. 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 ...

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 a ...

, 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 shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the li ...

in British law, 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 The abbreviation S.A. or SA designates a type of limited company in certain countries, most of which have a Romance language as their official language and employ civil law. Originally, shareholders could be literally anonymous and collect div ...

'', 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 especiall ...

), 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 A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...

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 ( ...

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 aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

, 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