Starting a Company

There are a number of different types of companies that can be formed in Ecuador.  The three types that EcuaAssist primarily works with are the following:

 

 

• A Sociedad Anónima, or Anonymous Partnership, is the type of company that is most commonly used by investors seeking to form further partnerships in the future or to sell shares of the company to other investors; the liability of shareholders is proportional to the amount of their investment in the company’s capital.

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• A Compañía Limitada, or Limited Liability Company (LLC), imposes more limitations on the addition of new partners in the future, as it requires the unanimous approval of the company’s shareholders to allow a third party member to invest as a partner.

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• A Sociedad de Hecho is specifically constituted for a single commercial activity and is easy to manage. Unlike the previous two types of companies, this type does not have its accounting records regulated by the Superintendence of Companies. The liability of each member is proportional to the amount of ownership. In general, companies based on this model are much simpler to start and easier to manage.