 | ||
Naamloze vennootschap ( [ˈnaːmloːzə ˈvɛnoːtsxɑp]; correctly abbreviated nv, however, often abbreviated N.V. or NV) is a legal structure of a company (of the sort "public company") conformable law in in the Netherlands, Belgium, Indonesia, and Suriname. The company is owned by shareholders, and the company's shares are not registered to certain owners, so that they may be traded on the public stock market.
The phrase literally means "nameless partnership" or "anonymous venture" and comes from the fact that the partners (the shareholders) are not directly known. This is in contrast to the term for a private limited company, which is called besloten vennootschap (an "exclusive" or "closed partnership", one in which stock is not for sale on open markets).
The naamloze vennootschap is a legal entity in the Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Curaçao, Suriname, St. Maarten, and Indonesia, although in Indonesia the Indonesian translation Perseroan Terbatas (PT) is more commonly used.