If you would like to incorporate a company with different share classes, this would usually need to be processed by paper. However, we can assist with quickly incorporating your company with different share classes electronically.
If your company has shares which have different rights, for example voting rights, you will be required to add different share classes to the company. Most companies have only one class of shares, which is ‘ordinary’ shares, they carry one vote per share, are entitled to participate equally in dividends and, if the company is wound up, share in the proceeds of the company's assets after all the debts have been paid.
It is becoming quite common for companies to have different share classes. Any company can create different classes of shares by setting out those classes and the rights attached to them within the company’s articles. This may be done for various reasons, such as to be able to vary the dividends paid to different shareholders and to create non-voting shares.
The most common type of share classes which are used are:
- Ordinary Shares
- Preference Shares
- Non-Voting Shares
- Class A (Alphabet Shares)
- Class B (Alphabet Shares)
You are able to add different share classes to existing companies, or you can set up your own company with different share classes. Different share classes should be used when the shares have different rights, such as voting shares.
