Can the British “limited company” (Ltd) be considered as kind of “improved German private limited company” (GmbH) or are certain risks involved played down by counseling agencies and carelessly overlooked by entrepreneurs? Does the Ltd really provide the ground for illegal machinations which is a point reiterated by critics and which causes many banks and administrative authorities to be very cautious?
These were the issues discussed at the beginning of March at a conference of the German institute for small and medium-sized entities (DIKMU) in Berlin. At the DIN (German Industrial Standard) house one hundred participants exchanged their experiences of three years with the “Ltd” English legal form which most of the time is given either wholesale criticism or euphoric applause. A study among 900 companies previous to the conference had yielded the following finding: Whereas the image of the Ltd had slightly improved with clients and staff and remained virtually unchanged with suppliers, many complained that it had suffered in the eyes of banks and led to a markedly reduced creditworthiness. Many of the companies surveyed even pointed out that business relations had been broken off on the part of banks.
Further information is available in the “Die Limited, wirklich die bessere GmbH?” PDF document provided free of charge for download by the Mittelstandsblog team. Detailed results of the conference are available in the conference reader which will soon be released as paperback. It can be ordered in the online shop of the DIKMU. 
Further articles on the subject provided by Mittelstandsblog are: