How to Check a Cyprus Company Before You Do Business With It

Whether you are signing a supply contract, fixing a charter, extending credit or taking on a new client, a few minutes checking the other side against the Cyprus register can save a great deal of trouble. Here is a practical checklist.

1. Confirm the company exists, with the exact name and number

Ask for the full registered name and the registration number. Cyprus limited companies use the prefix HE. Search the register and confirm that the name, number and type match what you were given. Watch for:

• names that differ by one word from a well-known company;
• a business name registration being presented as if it were a limited company. A business name has no separate legal personality, so its owner is personally liable;
• an overseas company presented as a Cyprus company, or the other way round.

Registration numbers are only unique within each entity type. The same number can belong to a company, a business name and a partnership, so always check the name as well as the number.

2. Check the status

A company can be registered, struck off, in liquidation or dissolved. A struck-off company no longer exists as a legal person, and a contract with it may be unenforceable. A company in liquidation is controlled by its liquidator, not its directors. See how Cyprus companies are closed.

3. Look at the directors and secretary

• Is the person you are dealing with actually a director, or otherwise authorised to sign?
• Do the directors sit on the boards of many unrelated companies? That can indicate nominee directors provided by a service company. This is lawful and common, but it means the real decision-makers are elsewhere.
• Have the directors changed recently, especially just before a large transaction?

On Companies of Cyprus each officer's page lists every company they are connected to, which makes these patterns easy to spot.

4. Check the registered office

Many companies use the address of their lawyer, accountant or corporate service provider as their registered office. Again, this is normal, but hundreds of companies at one address tells you that you are dealing with a managed structure, and you should ask who the operating business is.

5. Age and history

A company incorporated a few weeks before it asks for credit, or one that has recently changed its name, deserves extra questions. Check the incorporation date and any earlier names.

6. Ask for documents

For anything significant, ask the company for recent certificates from the Registrar (directors and secretary, shareholders, registered office, and a certificate of good standing), its latest audited financial statements, and details of its ultimate beneficial owners. Compare them with what the register shows.

Red flags

• Reluctance to give the registration number or full legal name.
• The bank account is held by a different entity from the contracting company.
• Status shows struck off or in liquidation.
• Directors or address changed very recently.
• Documents that do not match the register.