Numbered company

A buyer or seller meets this term when the other side of the deal, or the entity that owns the assets is named only by digits. The name tells you little. The business may trade under a different name, and the digits do not show who owns the corporation.

How a number becomes a name

Under the Canada Business Corporations Act, if the incorporators or a corporation ask, the Director shall assign a designating number as the name, followed by the word “Canada” and a word or expression referred to in subsection 10(1). Ontario’s Business Corporations Act defines a “number name” as the corporation number followed by “Ontario” and one of the words or abbreviations in its subsection 10(1). It also says that if no name is specified in the articles delivered to the Director, the corporation shall be assigned a number name, except that a professional corporation shall not have a number name (s. 3.2(2)). This entry covers the federal and Ontario Acts only; check the rules where the corporation was incorporated.

What to check or ask

• Which statute and registry govern it, federal or a province’s?
• What name does the business trade under, and is that name registered?
• Who are the directors and shareholders, and who signs for it?

For a buyer’s reasons for using one, see using a numbered company as the buyer. The founding document is the articles of incorporation.