!!!Aktiengesellschaft, AG

Aktiengesellschaft, AG, joint-stock company with its own legal 
identity (juristic person). Shareholders participate by investing in 
the company's share capital (at least ATS 1 m, divided into 
shares) without being personally responsible for the AG's liabilities. 
 Shares of stock can be issued as bearer shares or registered shares. 
In practice, AGs can have a variety of structures: personal or 
family-related AGs, or public AGs with a large number of shareholders. 
Even exchange-traded AGs  Stock Exchange usually have one or more main 
shareholders or shareholder syndicates which control the AG.

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In Austrian legislation, AGs are governed by the Company Act 
(Aktiengesetz) of 1965. Their legal setup is based on considerations 
intended to protect shareholders, debtors and the public. AGs are 
established by (constitutive) entries made in the Commercial Register. 
At the shareholders' meeting (Annual General Meeting), a mandatory 
supervisory board is elected for a maximum term governed by law; the 
supervisory board appoints the management board (managers) for a 
maximum term of 5 years. Shareholders also vote on important 
company decisions at shareholders´ meetings. Such matters 
include profit application, dismissal from the supervisory or 
management board, capital increases, mergers, etc. In most cases, an 
AG is established when a considerable number of capital investors 
(shareholders) is necessary to finance large-scale projects. At least 
two shareholders are needed in order to establish an AG. Because of 
the AG's solid legal organisation, the public sector often uses this 
type of business organisation.

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In 1997 there were 824 AGs in Austria (of which 149 were banks and 60 
were insurance companies) with an aggregate share capital of ATS 
199.2 bn (of which banks had ATS 51.3 bn, insurance 
companies ATS 10.9 bn). Austrian AGs, not including banks and 
insurance companies, employed 283,027 staff in 1997 and achieved a 
turnover of ATS 872.3 bn. 186 AGs were listed at the Vienna Stock 
Exchange in March 2000.

!Further reading
K. Schiemer, P. Jabornegg and R. Strasser, Kommentar 
zum Aktiengesetz, %%sup 3/%1993.


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