Types of Companies

Under Greek law corporate entities may be divided into two categories, that is personal companies and capital companies. The former category includes unlimited, limited or civil partnerships, while the latter embraces limited liability companies and corporations (sociétés anonymes). Other corporate entities include branches of foreign corporations, offshore branches of foreign corporations under Law 89/67 and joint ventures.

Personal companies
General partnership (which is not synonymous with unlimited partnership) is governed by Articles 18-22, 24, 39 and 41-44 of the Commercial Code and Articles 741-784 of the Civil Code. Most of the provisions applicable to general partnerships apply to limited partnerships as well. The main characteristic which differentiates the latter from the former is that in limited partnerships there exists one or more limited partners who are liable only to the extent of their contribution. There are no minimum capital requirements or requirements