Shelf companies go by their other name of “ready-made companies”. These are offshore companies which have already been registered by the Registered Agent and are awaiting “on the shelf” until they are bought by an interested client. The primary purpose of buying a ready-made company is to save some time which would otherwise be lost while going through the complete new-registration procedure.
In some circumstances it may also be necessary to deploy an offshore company, which has already been in legal existence for some time – for formalizing an existing de-facto deal, or for purely having a company that can already show some age. A variation of this option are the so-called “vintage” or “aged” companies. A vintage company may have been held one or more years “on the shelf” before it is sold. A purchase of a vintage company is justified when there is a genuine necessity to show that the company has actually been in legal existence for quite some time.
While a regular shelf company would usually cost the same as new incorporation, a vintage company will always be substantially more expensive. This is because the government fees, the Registered Office and the Registered Agent fees for all the previous years since registration would have to be covered on top of the primary incorporation and document preparation fees.
Ready-made IBC`s are guaranteed by the Registered Agent to have no “history” whatsoever – they have been dormant since their incorporation. Documents of a shelf company have never left the Registered Agents` offices. Written guarantees can always be provided by the Registered Agent to confirm that the shelf company has not traded.
