Ready-made, or "shelf" company refers to International Business Company (IBC) that is already incorporated and available for immediate purchase. This type of company has not done any business, have not entered any dealings or obligations.

1.       Benefits of Purchasing Ready-Made Company

By choosing a ready-made company over tailor-made company, several benefits can be achieved:

(1)	A company with an older registration date may be acquired, which may be useful by adding a certain "age" and it is not labelled as “newly incorporated”.
(2)	There is no need to go through the frustrating task of thinking-up an original company name. Client may simply choose an existing company from the list.

2.       Key Features

(1)	Ready-made company with a registration date is already incorporated. It already exists as legal entity and are available for immediate purchase.
(2)	Ordering a ready-made company does not necessarily means that the document will be shipped out immediately. Usually, before any further procedure taken for the purchase, Due Diligence / Know Your Client checking must be completed by the purchaser and the related parties, and payment must be received. These usually take additional time to complete.
(3)	Ready-made company usually has an "open" configuration. This means its internal structure can be customized depends on client’s needs. Yet, it still needs to appoint directors, allot shares, and draw up the respective internal registers.  These post-incorporation works are only carried out after client's order is received and may take additional time.
(4)	The documents of a ready-made company are not certified by notary or legalized by apostille. These certifications are normally required if the company needs to apply for a bank account.  If certified true copies or notarized document are required, extra cost and time may be required. The timeframe for notarizations and apostilles may subject to the respective notarial and government offices’ actual situation.
(5)	It is true that choosing a shelf company may save 24 to 72 hours out of normal incorporation time for a new company. However, the final preparation of the company before shipment may take anywhere between one and four business days, depending on the complexity of the order, the receipt of the respective due diligence information, and settlement of payment.
(6)	The next annual renewal payment (Government duty, Registered Agent, Registered Address and other annual maintenance fees if applicable) may become due and payable sooner than a newly incorporated company. This is due to the period of time that has already elapsed since the initial incorporation.
(7)	The purchaser has to cover the standard annual maintenance fees for the full elapsed period of time starting from the initial registration of the company. This is important especially when purchasing companies that are older than 1 year at the date of purchase (i.e. Vintage Companies). They are substantially more expensive than new incorporated company due to accumulation of the previous annual maintenance fees. Therefore, client should pay a special attention to the date of incorporation when choosing a ready-made company. Incorporating a new company, or purchasing a newer company is relatively inexpensive when compare with ready-made company that is incorporated for a few years.
(8)	We strongly suggest client to enter business deals with the new company name after the company’s original document are received safely. Kaizen shall not be liable for any possible losses or damages due to lack of proper documentation during the transaction in the name of the ready-made company.

For further information of Belize, please visit Introduction to Belize.

If you are interested of purchasing a Belize Ready-Made Company, please refer to Belize Ready-Made Company Registration Procedures and Fees.

Download： Features of Belize Ready-Made Company (Shelf Company) [PDF]