S.A. (corporation)

S.A. designates a particular type of corporation in various countries, mostly those employing the civil law. It originated in Spain during the 16th century. Depending on language, the abbreviation stands for various phrases meaning anonymous society, anonymous company, anonymous partnership, or share company. The concept is roughly equivalent to that of the public limited company in the UK and some other countries. It can be differentiated from partnerships and private limited companies.

S.A. can be an abbreviation of:

• Sociedad Anónima or Sociedad por Acciones in Spanish; variations include "S.A. de C.V.", Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable and "S.A.B. de C.V.", Sociedad Anónima Bursátil de Capital Variable for publicly traded companies in Mexico
• Societat Anònima in Catalan
• Sociedade Anónima in Galician and European Portuguese (used in Portugal and also in Angola, Timor Leste, Macao SAR of China, Mozambique and various other Portuguese speaking countries)
• Sociedade Anônima in Brazilian Portuguese
• Sociedá Anónima in Asturian and Leonese
• Società Anonima in Italian
• Société Anonyme in French (as commonly used in French-speaking countries, such as France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Monaco; and in partially Francophone countries like Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, and various other African countries)
• Spółka Akcyjna in Polish
• Societate pe Acţiuni in Romanian

It is equivalent in both literal meaning and practical function to:

• Anonim Şirket (A.Ş.) in Turkish
• Ανώνυμη/Ανώνυμος Εταιρεία (A.E., Anonymi/Anonymos Eteria) in Greek
• Naamloze Vennootschap (N.V.) in Dutch
• Perseroan Terbatas Terbuka (P.T. Tbk.) in Indonesia
• Sendirian Berhad (Sdn. Bhd.) in Malaysia

It is equivalent in practical function to:

• Osakeyhtiö (Oy) in Finnish
• Aktiengesellschaft (AG) in German
• Aktiebolag (AB) in Swedish
• Aktieselskab (A/S) in Danish
• Akciová Společnost (a.s.) in Czech
• Акционерско друштво (АД, Aktsionersko drushtvo) in Macedonian
• Акционерное общество (АО, Aktsionernoye obshchestvo) in Russian
• Акционерно дружество (АД, Aktsionerno druzhestvo) in Bulgarian
• Shoqëri Aksionare (Sh.a.) in Albania
• Delniška družba (d.d.) in Slovene