S.A., sociedade anónima ou aberta?

English translation: open company

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Portuguese term or phrase:	sociedade aberta
English translation:	open company
Entered by:	Mark Robertson

14:36 Feb 11, 2012

Portuguese to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Finance (general) / credit card contract

Portuguese term or phrase: S.A., sociedade anónima ou aberta?

"Banco Espírito Santo, S.A., sociedade aberta"

I have seen S.A. written as sociedade anónima, but here they say sociedade aberta.

What is SA in english, and what is SA in Portuguese?

Thank you

lynnsalt KudoZ activity Questions: 12 (1 open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 8 Portugal
Local time: 12:58

see explanation

Explanation:
Sociedade Anonima and Sociedade Aberta are two completely different concepts. S.A. is the abbreviation for sociedade anónima. There is no abbreviation for sociedade aberta.

A sociedade anónima is one of the common corporate forms in civil law countries. The primary distinction between them and other types of limited liability company is that their share capital is divided into shares with a fixed par value. I normally use the EN-UK term public limited company to translate sociedade anónima.

A sociedade aberta is a company the shares of which are freely traded on a regulated market. The EN term open company does exist and in the UK is defined as a company that is not a close company. Broadly a close company is a company that:

is under the control of:

five or fewer shareholders, or
any number of shareholders, if they are directors, or
more than half the assets of which would be distributed to five or fewer shareholders, or to shareholders, who are directors, in the event of the winding up of the company, the shares of which are freely traded on a regulated market.
So a sociedade aberta and an open company are pretty similar.

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Note added at 21 hrs (2012-02-12 12:03:05 GMT)
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Reply to Asker's note: WIDR, you have not understood what BES is saying. It is saying two things. (1) that it is a sociedade anónima (S.A.) and (2) that is listed on the Lisbon Securities Market, i.e. a sociedade aberta (open company). Generally speaking companies listed on a Portuguese market must be socioedades anónimas. The converse on not true though, i.e. not all sociedades anónimas are so listed. The term public company is source of confusion, you could use the term listed company, rather than open company.

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Note added at 23 hrs (2012-02-12 13:46:07 GMT)
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Reply to Asker#2: What I am saying is that the words chosen by the author of the BES text can be improved upon.

Selected response from:

Mark Robertson
Local time: 12:58

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

limited liability company/public company

David Hollywood

5 +1

see explanation

Mark Robertson

corporation

ghostwriter-BR

PLC Public Limited Company

Douglas Bissell

Summary of reference entries provided

O que é uma sociedade aberta?

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

limited liability company/public company

Explanation:

www.millenniumbcp.pt/.../archive/.../ing_inf_financeira__42... Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
Banco Comercial Português, S.A., a public company (sociedade aberta) having its registered office at Praça D. João I, 28, Oporto, registered at the Commercial ...

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Note added at 7 mins (2012-02-11 14:44:21 GMT)
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sociedad anónima = limited liability company

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Note added at 11 mins (2012-02-11 14:47:47 GMT)
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Portuguese: sociedade anónima = limited liability company

sociedade aberta = publicly traded/listed company

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Note added at 11 mins (2012-02-11 14:48:14 GMT)
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translatorscafe.com/tcterms/EN/thQuestion.aspx?id=7904725 Apr 2011 – Presidente do conselho geral e de supervisão de sociedade aberta ... S.A., Sociedade Aberta: ≈ publicly traded corporation or listed company ...

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Note added at 14 mins (2012-02-11 14:50:38 GMT)
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sociedade anónima: US English: incorporated company; British English = limited liability company

David Hollywood
Local time: 08:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 122

Notes to answerer

Asker: thank you

29 mins confidence:

PLC Public Limited Company

Explanation:
HIH

Douglas Bissell
Portugal
Local time: 12:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 123

18 mins confidence:

corporation

Explanation:
Sociedade Anônima

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Note added at 1 hr (2012-02-11 16:18:45 GMT)
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http://www.portaldoinvestidor.gov.br/Acadêmico/EntendendooMe...

ghostwriter-BR
Brazil
Local time: 08:58
Native speaker of: Portuguese
PRO pts in category: 4

5 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

see explanation

Mark Robertson
Local time: 12:58
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 195

Notes to answerer

Asker: Except that now the portuguese banks are calling themselves "Sociedade Aberta" http://www.bes.pt/SITEBES/cms.aspx?plg=3E6E6647-BE8A-45D5-93CD-E626C30EDFD9 which I have discovered they themselves as "public company". I think it is a new designation.

Asker: sorry, I left out some words: ..which they themselves translate as " public company".

Asker: Thank you, that is helpful.

Reference comments

1 hr

Reference: O que é uma sociedade aberta?

Reference information:
. O que é uma Sociedade Aberta?

São Sociedades Abertas, aquelas que:

- se tenham constituído através de oferta pública de subscrição dirigida especificamente a pessoas com residência ou estabelecimento em Portugal;
- sejam emitentes de acções ou de outros valores mobiliários que confiram direito à sua subscrição ou à aquisição de acções que tenham sido objecto de oferta pública de subscrição dirigida especificamente a pessoas com residência ou estabelecimento em Portugal;
- sejam emitentes de acções ou de outros valores mobiliários que confiram direito à subscrição ou aquisição, que estejam ou tenham estado admitidos à negociação em mercado regulamentado situado ou a funcionar em Portugal;
- sejam emitentes de acções que tenham sido alienadas em oferta pública de venda ou de troca em quantidade superior a 10% do capital social, dirigida especificamente a pessoas com residência ou estabelecimento em Portugal;
- resultem de cisão de sociedade aberta ou que incorpore por fusão, a totalidade ou parte do seu património.
http://www.cmvm.pt/cmvm/apoio ao investidor/faq/pages/faq_sa...

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Portugal
Native speaker of:

Portuguese
PRO pts in category: 60

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English translation: open company

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