Most Czech joint-stock companies have anonymous owner

Prague, Jan 14 (CTK) - More than a half of Czech joint-stock companies have bearer shares which means their real owner is anonymous, said an analysis of Ceska kapitalova informacni agentura (CEKIA).

Bearer shares are often linked with corruption and money laundering.

Like in the previous years, businesses prefer anonymous shares owing to simple transferability, low administrative and financial costs and the possibility to keep their real owners secret, said CEKIA analyst Petra Stepanova.

Over 96 percent (24,151) of joint-stock companies registered in the Czech Republic have issued bearer shares.

Less than 5 percent of joint-stock companies have issued book-entry shares. These are mostly firms that took part in coupon privatisation or entered the stock exchange and the off-exchange market.

CEKIA is a leading domestic provider of databases of companies and of economic information.

Shares issued by Czech joint-stock companies
number - December 2012 share in pct - December 2012 share in pct - December 2010
comps with registered shares 10,730 42.78 40.89
comps with bearer shares 13,792 54.99 52.64
comps with registered and bearer shares 346 1.38 1.42
total 25,081 100 100

Source: CEKIA