Share Classes: How Share Capital Works in the BVI

The BVI Business Companies Act is globally recognized for its exceptional flexibility in the management of share capital. This feature allows BVI companies to issue shares with highly customizable rights and restrictions, turning the corporate structure into a powerful tool for wealth planning, succession planning, and corporate governance.

The ability to create different classes of shares enables clients to separate economic control from political (voting) control within the structure, efficiently and securely addressing complex objectives.

Among the most common options are:

• Ordinary shares: standard shares with voting and dividend rights;

• Non-voting shares: shares without voting rights, widely used for succession planning;

• Preferred shares: shares with priority in dividends or liquidation.

  
  

Wealth Optimization and Governance

The customization of share classes is key to the efficiency of BVI structures, enabling:

• Family Governance – the creation of shares with different rights for family members, separating active management from passive ownership;

• Asset Protection – the use of non-voting shares to isolate wealth from operational risks or disputes;

• Succession Planning – the implementation of mechanisms such as Cascading Shares to ensure management continuity and the immediate transfer of assets upon death, minimizing costs and administrative burdens.

  
  

Aurora supports the structuring of share classes in line with wealth planning, asset protection, and governance objectives.