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Societas Europaea
Societas Europaea is also known as a European joint-stock company or SE for short. The legal form of SE was developed due to the EU’s effort to harmonize corporate law. SEs are required to have their headquarters in a member state of the European Union.
Legally speaking, SE joint-stock companies capital is divided into shares. The minimum capital needed to create an SE is €120,000 Euros.
Features of a Societas Europaea
SEs have a legal entity
A joint-stock company
The stock capital is divided into shares
Headquarters must be within the EU or European Economic Area
Shareholders convene at a general meeting to exercise their voting rights
Four options to found an SE
Merging two existing companies
Founding of a holding company
Founding a common subsidiary by several companies or existing SEs
Converting of national joint-stock company into an SE
SE Works Council
Depending on the organizational form, it may be possible to establish a SE work council. A work council represents the rights of employees throughout the entire company. Employees and employers jointly decide based on various guidelines how the work council is established, or how to convert an existing works council into an SE work council. The EWC Academy consults multinational companies in establishing an SE works council.