Uždarosios bendrovės samprata ir požymiai
Conception and Features of a Close Company

Summary/Abstract: The object of this research is a close company as a legal form of an organization of business. The relevance of the theme is determined by the fact that in order to understand and improve the regulation of the various forms of legal entities, it is necessary to know the evolution, concept and the specific features of the specific legal entities. The most popular legal form in Lithuania is a private limited company. But the Lithuanian legal basis lacks deep traditions on matters of private limited companies. Lithuanian legislature had learn from other countries’ experience in this field. However, Lithuania has not done enough research as to whether a created regulation corresponds to the essence and particularity of such companies. The questions related to the evolution and concept of close companies (private limited companies) were not examined in Lithuanian jurisprudence. This article is the first to provide a detailed analysis of the concept and typical features of a close company. The purpose of the research is to disclose the concept, evolution and specific features of a close company. Various scientific methods have been applied: linguistic, document (content of source), logical, systematic, comparative, critical analyses, etc. A study carried out revealed that during the evolution of company law there have been occurrences of the more simple form of a company, which was fitted for a small circle of participants—a company closed in nature (i.e., having no free public turnover of shares), in other words—a close company. A key feature of a close company is the lack of a public market for shares, which determines the restrictions on transfer of shares as well. A close company can be defined as a company, the shares of which cannot be offered to the public and the shares of which are under transfer restrictions. Lithuania, where the model of a close company corresponds with a private limited company (UAB), is attributable to the group of countries which have left a feature of share capital for the form of close company, but have fixed more flexible requirements and a ban on share trading in public, as well as limiting the maximum number of shareholders and/or the share transfer restrictions.

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